


What Dumbledore Never Knew

by gryffindormystery



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-30 14:39:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 31,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17830466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryffindormystery/pseuds/gryffindormystery
Summary: It is now 2020 and none of Harry Potter’s children are cursed, but he might be. The prophecy that shaped his life has an unexpected consequence and Harry has quit his job as an Auror, he works part time at Hogwarts and realizes his dream of becoming a professional Quidditch player too. Btw shoutout to my friends who let me make them as characters or kill them in the Battle, you’re great. Story takes into account the Hogwarts Mystery timeline.





	1. Chapter 1

All was well.  
It was now past the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and Harry had returned from escorting his fourth child, Lily Luna, to the Hogwarts Express where she would begin her new life training as a witch. Harry was a typical worried parent, especially looking back on what he and the people around him had done at the young ages of eleven and twelve; his best friends sacrificed themselves in a possibly deadly game of chess and drunk a potion which could either result in instant death, or the likelihood of a much more painful killing for the chance to stop Voldemort from immortality. He pushed back the thoughts of Ginny possessed by Voldemort and barely alive, Lily Luna was practically the mirror image of her. He tried not to picture his innocent daughter who shared his untamable messy hair alone in the forest with a mysterious figure drinking the blood of a unicorn. She was perfectly safe at Hogwarts, he had made sure of that, no child would ever end the year grieving for a fellow student, none of them would have to fight a battle that even adults would be easily killed in, no one would need to worry that their family would be gone when they returned. Harry faced the pain so that they could be free. It was still very much painful twenty years on. No physical pain, that had subsided shortly after the battle, although he did bear the scars, the most prominent being his trademark lightning bolt which used to burn, and “i must not tell lies” inked into his skin with his own blood by the witch who had died in Azkaban. Many had been in favor of sending her without a trial, however Harry himself had objected, banning that practice knowing that a trial would prove the guilt of the magical people who deserved it while protecting those who suffered the Imperius curse or had been framed. In other words, Harry mused, they were pruning wherever they found practices that ought to be prohibited.


	2. Chapter 2 - Back to Hogwarts

Harry had began his adult life as an auror after the war, determined to round up the last of Voldemort’s supporters, most of whom had fled the country before the final battle had ended as Harry’s return from death had caused them to save their own skins rather than fight for the losing side. Some refused to go without a fight, Fenrir Greyback ended up dead which sparked a new beginning for innocent werewolves bitten before they could defend themselves. Like Remus. Harry paused as the grief for the two Marauders he had known hit him again, it was a different kind of grief to that he felt for his parents. Remus and Sirius were the miracle family that as a child Harry had always longed for, they hadn’t died young as his parents had although their lives were filled with more pain and suffering. He didn’t regret meeting them and he was truly grateful for the small amount of time he had with his father’s two brothers. Teddy Remus had grown up with stories of his father’s brilliant ability to teach and his mother’s ability to make others laugh. Teddy’s grandmother barely saw him as he was practically adopted into the Weasley-Potter family and he had a particularly close relationship with Charlie and Bill who much to Harry’s surprise had been in Tonks’ gang in school and spent hours with Teddy, recounting stories of Emily, a Gryffindor girl in Charlie and Tonks’ year who was the link between them, and their quest to break curses in the school. Harry had wondered if they could contact her for another connection to Tonks but sadly she was one of the fifty killed in the Battle of Hogwarts fighting as part of the Order. Harry and the remaining Order were the only links to Remus as far as he could tell, and he felt a surge of gratitude to his parents and Sirius for giving the outcast werewolf a chance. Teddy, a mixture of both his parents in personality, was now an adult who would shortly be marrying Victoire, the oldest Weasley child and fully joining their family.  
Harry’s mind often strayed to thoughts of his family and friends who were the reason he had fought and even died to save the world. During his darkest times he hadn’t expected an “after the war” in his lifetime, he only survived day by day because he knew he was the only chance for Ron and Hermione as well as the people he could only picture in a distant dream as it had been so long since they’d seen him.  
Harry had recently taken a break with his work as an auror however he was always kept up to date with what they were working on, and if they really needed him he would come in. His life had become busy and scattered with the wizarding world desperate for his opinion on everything. He didn’t mind because he was long used to it, after he won the war he was immediately the wizarding world’s source of knowledge and the right thing to do, to more of an extent than even Dumbledore himself had been. He’d declined the post of Minister more times than he could count but he was obliged to to register his opinions on candidates, the world had realized that during the war everyone who Harry had no faith in failed them through incompetence or else outright support for Voldemort. Harry knew that at least this method prevented someone like Fudge from taking charge and Harry would never become obsessed with power, he sought to avoid it as much as he could. Harry also had the opportunity to do something he found that he loved, teach at Hogwarts. Harry was not a full time teacher but he would come in on occasion and teach Defense to anyone who wanted to learn, and every time he left he was desperate to get back to his first home, the place where most of his significant life events had happened. Today was one of those days and he was very impatient to get there.  
Harry apparated to the massive gates through which he could see the castle which was slightly sparkling in the sunlight. He arrived hopefully after breakfast had finished on Saturday because he was keen to avoid all the staring and whispering although the chances of him making it to McGonagall’s office without being spotted were very slight. But after all he HAD killed the most dangerous dark wizard ever to live, at the age of seventeen and destroyed most of his soul before that without him noticing a thing so the Headmistress’ office was nothing. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that before he knew it he had arrived, and then it occurred to him that he didn’t know the password. He decided to just punch the gargoyle as he was feeling a bit stupid and miraculously it worked, the staircase began to twist upwards towards the door. He grasped the knocker but before he knocked it the door opened. “Potter” McGonagall shook her head “How have you never learned to behave yourself?” Harry grinned as Minerva’s face split into a smile “Sorry Professor”  
“You are so like your father. How is the Ministry?” Minerva inquired more seriously.   
“Fine I guess, but like I said last month I’m on a break and I don’t think it’s right for me. I’m not a politician.” Harry moved towards the comfortable seat opposite the Headmistress’ desk and sat down. “There’s no reason that I would have to go back apart from meetings, I’ve had enough of being an auror, technically that’s been my life since I was eleven. I don’t need the money and I have enough to keep me busy.” Minerva smiled and appeared to be thinking for a second. “Harry, why don’t you go back to Quidditch? You could have flown circles around Ginny when she was playing professionally and by some miracle, you haven’t lost a step since. You are truly an exceptional seeker and somehow your years haven’t weakened you like the rest of us.” Harry considered her thought. “I’ll talk with Ginny about it but you’re right, it’s an idea. It would take my mind off things too, it always did.” Minerva looked at him with a pained expression, she knew that her ex student was still deeply affected by the war. She was too, but knew it must be much harder on him, having witnessed much more that he couldn’t help and having a direct connection into Voldemort’s mind. The hopes for the future had all been pinned on a seventeen year old wizard and she wished it hadn’t been this way but like Albus, she had been helpless and it was just a miracle that Harry had survived. She glanced across the table and saw him lost in his thoughts and remembered the most important thing. “Harry,” Harry looked up in surprise, he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. “I think we should call James, Albus and Lily now. They always like to see you first when you arrive.” She rummaged under her desk and placed a tartan patterned tin of Ginger Newts and a large jar of lemon sherbets on the table, Dumbledore’s legacy lived on at Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was started on Wattpad but someone requested me to post it on Ao3 so here it is, I’ve written around 11 chapters so I’ll upload a few tonight, follow my instagram @gryffindormystery as I will be posting updates on the story as well as ways for you guys reading this to alter it a little.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Memorial

Minerva left the office and Harry was grateful that she had offered to fetch the children as he avoided the Hogwarts corridors and common rooms as much as he could; too much staring. Harry wondered why she didn’t just send an owl but he supposed it would probably take longer to find one than it would to just go herself and shortly she returned from the Gryffindor and Slytherin dormitories. “James, no. We all know that I got the family’s Quidditch talent.....”  
“NO WAY!!! 12 year old me could SO beat you, I made the team in 2nd year too”  
“Yeah only because you were the first to come here and everyone was desperate for Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley’s child to join.”  
“HEY!!!! You had the exact same advantage as me, if anything they wanted James Potter’s sister too because at that time, I was already a legend.”  
“And people can’t understand why I wanted to be a Slytherin, to get some peace and quiet from you two”  
“Yeah right. Being with Malfoy is soooooo much better than time with us”  
“SHUT UP ABOUT MY BEST FRIEND”  
“HI DAD!!!! DID YOU GET THE LATEST FIREBOLT? It’s supposed to be the fastest one ever made and my friend told me it’s the most expensive at a million galleons!!!!” James yelled loudly. Harry looked up as his 3 children entered, he had been listening to their arguments since they stepped on to the staircase. “McGonagall told us to go on up, she said she had some sort of errand to run and she’ll be back soon.” his youngest daughter added. His other son stayed quiet and a step away from his siblings, Lily and James were very close despite their age gap and as far as Harry could tell, Albus chose not to interact with them very much at Hogwarts as he preferred his friends, who Harry’s Gryffindor children disliked. They normally stayed on friendly terms with some sibling arguments so Harry was happy with the situation as long as Albus was. Albus Cedric shared the same kind personality as his namesake and both were brave without being Gryffindors and represented their houses well. Harry was glad had chosen to name his child after the first victim of the war, even though he had not been close to Cedric, he admired his courage and ability to play fair. Cedric had unintentionally taught him a lot about how to be a good person and Albus was having the same effect on him. Harry pulled his mind back to the discussion happening beside him, his children were talking about Quidditch, the main thing that linked them together after the countless matches they’d seen as a family together. “So Dad, are you here to surprise us with tickets to a match?” James Sirius asked hopefully. Harry laughed at James’ expression with his wide hazel eyes like a puppy. “Not today, I’m here for the DA”. All three children looked disappointed, clearly they were all pinning their hopes on Quidditch and Harry was left slightly confused since he regularly came to teach the DA and had not once surprised them with tickets during the school term. They brightened slightly at the thought of the DA, most of the school came and Harry’s children were always in the thick of things, for James and Lily’s friends it was one of the main social events of the year and even Albus brought Scorpius along. Lily suddenly spied the sweets Minerva had laid out and all three rushed towards them. Somehow James managed to open the tin upside down and the newts ran in all directions, “Very slick coming from ‘Hogwarts’ best Quidditch player’”  
“See, I TOLD you Dad would take my side”  
“To be fair James, she is better than you” Harry grinned at his oldest son and saw his joking look of horror reminiscent of Fred and George at his age. The family (minus Ginny who was busy at work) spent the day together playing 2 a side Quidditch in a quiet part of the Hogwarts grounds, James and Lily against Harry and Albus. They were evened out as Harry wasn’t as good as a chaser, Lily was a very good chaser and James and Albus were both reasonably talented. There was nothing in the rules against this however it was just that this kind of thing didn’t happen often because most pupils did not want to spend the Saturday with their professors and Harry qualified as an honorary one for the days he taught the DA. Shortly before dinner, Harry said goodbye to his children for a while and walked towards the Great Hall, seeking some peace and quiet before everyone arrived for the feast. He gazed at the huge memorial that took up the majority of space behind the teacher’s table and began to examine every word closely as he had done every time he’d visited since it was created.  
Hogwarts remembers the awful events of the Second Wizarding War 1995-1998 and we will forever remember the names of everyone who gave their lives in the effort to regain a peaceful world.   
In memory of   
Bertha Jorkins  
Cedric Diggory  
Broderick Bode  
Sirius Black   
Harry felt a pang of sadness as he paused over this name, he missed Sirius terribly, even more than 20 years later. He kept on reading.  
Amelia Bones  
Emmeline Vance  
Florean Fortescue   
Albus Dumbledore  
Charity Burbage  
Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody  
Rufus Scrimgeour   
Bathilda Bagshot  
Ted Tonks  
Dirk Cresswell   
Gornuk  
Dobby  
Bogrod

And in the Battle of Hogwarts,  
Melany Falcon  
Clara Houston  
Cassiopeia Geminox   
Arya Jedusor  
Claire Caulfield  
Miranda Little  
Daisy Twining  
Lily Lodge  
Victoria Lockwood  
Grace Peterson  
Cassidy Taylor  
Emily Greengrass  
Maria Greengrass  
Ava Fawley  
Fred Weasley  
Hannah O’Leary  
Ariana Martens  
Emmett Cheung  
Hannah Ellinger  
Riley Algate  
Mara Beckenworth  
Brooke McLauren  
Rose Timberland  
Severus Snape  
Lamija Ramic  
Jacob Ramic  
Nikita Josephine  
Nicole Lovegood  
Artemis Chrisman  
Colin Creevey  
Jackleen Mort  
Maddie Mavilda  
Marie Todd  
Korina Harle  
Aria Allegari  
Katie Gascon  
Carolle Blackley  
Thomas Blackley  
Alvilde Riis   
Ava Brooklyn  
Alexa Jeanes   
Rebekah Winborn  
Catherine Lin  
Nicole Polipuff  
Jacob Fawley  
Barnaby Lee  
Remus Lupin  
Nymphadora Tonks  
and Harry Potter, who’s sacrifice will always be remembered as clearly as the others because the intention behind it was there and without him, many others would have died in this battle, his sacrifice protected Hogwarts and its defenders. Harry James Potter was the reason that the Wizarding community’s suffering came to an end at last, on the 2nd of May 1998.  
Harry stared at all of these names for what felt like years, every time he came to Hogwarts he came to pay his respects to the memorial and he had memorized every name listed of the 50 who died during the final battle, and the many others who died in the war. Harry hadn’t expected the last part, every other part of the memorial he had worked on and made happen. When he saw it, he protested that it should only be for the people who died during the war however he was unable to persuade the people of Hogwarts, the Ministry and the general wizarding public, they wanted him on there because he died for them, so they were protected from Voldemort. Even Ron and Hermione refused to take his side on this matter. One thing as Harry got older he realized was that the wizarding world needed a hero, after all they had been through they needed someone good that they could believe in and unfortunately for him, Harry was that person who the world trusted. As it drew closer to dinner, Harry dreaded facing everyone for the first time on his trip and wished he could go straight to the teaching but he knew that today he had to give a speech. The teachers and students insisted on it and Harry knew there was no point arguing, it’s easier to just get it done. He heard the door to the great hall creak open and span around with his wand in hand. It was a bad habit of his that he couldn’t seem to break, but slowly lowered his wand as he saw his old friend walking towards him, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far I’m liking Ao3 as a place to post this, hope you guys enjoy the story!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

Harry watched as Neville made his way past all four house tables. “Minerva told me you came to Hogwarts, I knew you’d be here.”  
Harry didn’t say anything at first but he gave Neville a slight smile, grateful that he was there. “Harry, I know how much this is affecting you. It’s the same for all of us, every time I see it I remember. You couldn’t have done ANYTHING differently. It isn’t your fault.”  
“I just think that, what if I’d acted earlier? What if I’d let him kill me before? Ron and Hermione knew what to do and they’d have been protected from him if I’d actually died. I could have saved Fred, Tonks, Remus, Colin, EVERYONE. Colin, he was far too young. He didn’t deserve it. I brought this on myself and I should have been the one to finish it without innocent people being there.”  
“Harry, you have to listen, everyone in that battle CHOSE to defend Hogwarts. You were the one to persuade Minerva to use the Hog’s Head and every single one who didn’t make the decision to fight were saved. If we knew what you were about to do when you disappeared, we would have stopped you. Every last one of us would have forced you back, got everyone out before his hour was up. What you did was braver than anyone, everyone else got the chance to fight and save themselves, you gave that up for us. They died for a better world and we got that. Lupin, Dumbledore, Sirius, your parents, they would have wanted you to move on, be able to forget. A better world, that’s what my parents took Bellatrix’s toture for, I can’t forget either, not after seeing you return with Cedric’s body, looking half dead yourself and telling us he’s back. Not after fighting in the Department of Mysteries, watching the DA be left powerless one by one, until it was my turn. I knew that prophecy was important, then I broke it, I knew Sirius must not be the guilty mass murderer, then I watched you scream as he disappeared through the veil, your godfather killed by the same person who tortured my parents. I knew I was powerless but I still had to fight, do something. The whole next year I kept that coin in my pocket, hoping that we’d have another DA meeting. When I finally got the message, I no longer felt powerless, I was glad to be able to do SOMETHING for the war effort. I felt guilty after Dumbledore’s death, we all did. Even though we knew we’d done something it just wasn’t enough. After the Death Eaters took Hogwarts I was powerless again, waiting for news, every day hoping that you were all right and that you’d come back to us. Me, Ginny and Luna were so close, doing whatever we could to raise the morale of the students and teachers and eventually we hid with Potterwatch and Aberforth our only connection to the outside world, apart from when another person escaped Hogwarts. Finally on the day you came, everyone had a chance to fight and we took it, we needed it. Needed to destroy every last one of them and when we thought they’d killed you, that was awful. I could feel everyone’s hope leaving them. It was the feeling of fighting dementors without a patronus only you know that what you’re seeing is real. I didn’t know what to do but I knew it was up to me because no one else could move. At that moment I could barely walk, barely had a voice to cast a spell but I could feel it in the air, this was the moment. I killed the snake and you came alive and it all turned around. Please Harry, don’t for one minute think that you’re the reason they’re dead and you could have done more to save us, the only death you’re responsible for was Voldemort’s, and it’s a good thing you were.”  
Harry had stayed silent through Neville’s story and he still didn’t know what to say. He still felt the crushing weight of all the deaths in the war, that they were his fault, that he could have stopped it SOMEHOW. He knew he had to try and think to the future rather than in the past, the war had ended twenty years ago and right now he needed to focus on Ginny, Teddy, James, Albus and Lily, his family who needed him. Thinking of them gave him strength to see past the awful memories, like an incredibly powerful patronus against dementors. He tore his eyes away from the memorial and Neville gestured for him to walk. He started leading the way but he was unsure where they were going. He saw the sunlight reflected in the Black Lake and decided to sit under a tree near there, a place he used to go to with Ron and Hermione. Him and Neville sat there in silence, each engrossed in their own thoughts. Over the years Neville had sort of become a friend like Ron, they had known eachother for so long that no words needed to be said, but Neville was always a bit more serious than Ron, they brought out different parts of Harry.  
Time passed quickly and soon it was time for the feast. Minerva had decided to surprise the students with Harry’s arrival and Harry was happy to go along with this as it had meant he could hide for most of the day and only face a couple of close friends and family. Now it was time to speak to the whole of Hogwarts at once which surprisingly, doesn’t get easier with age. He slipped into his invisibility cloak and sat down at the teacher’s table beside Neville, in Trelawney’s chair since she never appeared for meals anyway. He was amused by the fact that on the other side was the Headmistress herself and Harry could only imagine the awkward small talk if the Divination professor someday appeared for a meal. Minerva stood up and the hall quieted as the students watched her step towards the podium. “Welcome everyone, to our feast. This weekend, we have a very special guest who I expect will be greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and he needs no introduction.”  
Harry joined her at the podium wishing he was still wearing the cloak as every single student gave him a standing ovation. In the crowd he could hear a group of loud Gryffindor sixth years chanting “POTTER!” over and over again, a Hufflepuff first year who actually screamed, a Slytherin Quidditch fanatic who yelled “IT’S GINNY POTTER’S HUSBAND!! FROM THE HOLYHEAD HARPIES!!” which he had to admit, made him slightly happier, he loved Ginny and wished for the day her success would take over his, and a group of Gryffindor 7th years making Harry very uncomfortable by blowing kisses and he saw James mime throwing up and reminding them very loudly that Harry Potter was his DAD and they looked kind of embarrassed but quickly regained their composure and tried to flirt with James. Harry himself was ready to throw up but he directed his attention to Albus at the Slytherin table who was smiling expectantly and then it occurred to Harry that he had no idea what he was going to say.   
“Min..... I mean Professor McGonagall wanted to surprise all of you so tomorrow I’m holding a DA meeting for anyone who wants to come along that will be starting at 10am in here so I’d better plan a lesson soon. I expect that many of you will come just to hear about the war, and I’m hoping you will all leave knowing more spells than you came in with. Also my children will kill me themselves if they have to hear the story of how I defeated Voldemort one more time.”   
The students laughed but then they flinched hearing the name. Harry wondered why, Voldemort had been defeated for the last time before any of them were even born. He thought to himself that at least he had something to teach them the next day. Harry didn’t know how to act while he addressed the students, he wasn’t their teacher but he was here to teach them hopefully in an interesting way if they stopped staring at him with those puppy dog eyes. Nearly all of them had seen him before, learned from him, so he would have thought this would have worn off over time, but they were all just as starstruck. Minerva began to speak and Harry returned to his seat just as the food appeared. When dessert came he saw that there was mountains of treacle tart. Winky, now the head house elf at Hogwarts must have known he was coming. He made a mental note to visit her, he hadn’t seen her since her last holiday a few weeks ago and he pictured Hermione’s face if she heard Harry had visited Winky without her and made the decision to send her a few photos before he left.


	5. Chapter 5 - Dumbledore’s Army

Harry woke up the next morning in the first home he’d ever had and sunlight was streaming through the windows. He wasn’t quite sure when this room of Hogwarts appeared, he’d always assumed they had guest accommodation but this room was a little too personal for just anybody, with the red and gold Gryffindor colours prominent in it and there were pictures on two walls opposite each other. One of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts as the sun was rising, that he suspected was taken by Colin Creevey as two red headed beaters zoom past leaning on each other to stay awake, a small boy with glasses and messy black hair looking only slightly more alert, and a tall boy who looks like there’s nothing else he’d rather do than practice Quidditch at 5am. Oliver Wood had then gone on to play on Puddlemere United’s team and eventually retired when he got too old to play professionally, he now works as an (incredibly enthusiastic) announcer for Quidditch games. He would often come over to the Weasley’s to play, strangely as time went on, Harry was the only person who’s age did not seem to affect him, he was now a faster chaser than Ginny, although he would always prefer seeking. The other enlarged photograph that the room held was of four teenage boys, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, laughing and looking more carefree than Harry had ever seen. He wondered who had decorated this room, or if Hogwarts had simply created it out of nowhere, that wouldn’t surprise him since the castle was so full of its own clever magic. He could stare out of the room’s window and see a beautiful view of Gryffindor tower, or further away, the lake. Suddenly he heard a knock on the door. Harry tensed for no reason apart from bad memories and a second later the door flew open and Harry grabbed his wand from his back pocket. As the intruders stepped into the light he relaxed and replaced his wand.  
“McGonagall sent us up to check on you, you’re almost late for the DA!!!!” James began with a laugh.  
“Dad seriously, how in the world did you arrive on time to save Mum from the Chamber of Secrets but you can’t even be on time for a class YOU organized????” Lily added, sounding quite like her Aunt Hemione.  
“Okay, okay you two, I promise I’ll be there, I won’t miss it. I just got a little...... preoccupied.”  
Lily glanced from her father to the photographs on the walls and Harry could tell she had made the connection to why he was late, she bore a great resemblance to her namesake, his mother, in the way she perceived things, according to Minerva anyway. She was only twelve but had definitely overtaken her brother James in maturity. Lily walked slowly over to a chair and sat down, looking at the picture of the Marauders.  
“Dad, you really miss them, don’t you?”  
Harry nodded and waited for her to continue, she didn’t need prompting.  
“I know that I never met any of them but I see the way James Sirius smiles, and he has the same look on his face as the originals. I wish I could have got to know them, imagine the pranks we could do at Hogwarts if me and James had the ACTUAL Marauders around. Teddy and Albus are just like Teddy’s dad, though I think that Teddy is really like the other ones too. Not Albus so much, he only seems similar to Teddy’s dad. What I’m trying to say is that we are like them, you can look at us and see them. It’s really not going to make you feel less guilt if you keep staring at this photo thinking you could’ve done more, but if you look at us it might make you think that you still can do more and you’ve got us.”  
Harry couldn’t believe how fast she was growing up, and how much she understood that even he couldn’t wrap his head around.  
“Thank you. Every day I see my dad and Sirius in James, and in you I see my mum and also Luna. I didn’t realize at the time why exactly we decided to break the tradition and give you the middle name of someone still living, but now I know. The way you see things is the perfect mix of my mother Lily and best friend Luna.”  
His daughter beamed with pride, out of his three children she was very much interested in history, not in a pureblood elitist sort of way, but she was determined to learn as much as she could about her relatives and everyone who had died during the wars. She often was able to persuade people to tell their stories when they hadn’t felt like it before and helped so many people by listening. They opened up to her and she was able to empathize perfectly with them. Harry felt incredibly lucky to have her as a daughter, but he still felt sad that she tried to help him, he wished he could hide his struggles from his children so they wouldn’t suffer with him. He had always hated that other people had to hurt too and that he couldn’t just take the suffering himself and leave the world in blissful ignorance. It was only at the age he was now that he had begun to understand how much he went through during his childhood.   
Harry sent his children to get ready and soon he made his way down to the great hall, the original Dumbledore’s Army had decided to use this for public classes, the Room of Requirement would stay their own special spot for it. The hall was already full when Harry finally arrived, nearly every student and teacher at the school wanted to join in, and many of the students were holding up handmade banners, most commonly with Harry’s name or Dumbledore’s Army written on them. One of the fancier looking ones had a beautifully detailed drawing of Fawkes the phoenix flying across it, they must have gone to a lot of bother to find a book with a picture of Dumbledore’s own phoenix, because it was unmistakably Fawkes. The students and teachers cheered as Harry walked in, some even threw gifts such as chocolate frogs or elaborately decorated magical cakes which Harry assumed the children’s parents had sent. Harry smiled and thanked them but awkwardly handed over the pile to Neville, who set them behind the high table. The room was suddenly silent as Harry started to speak.  
“Hi, today I’m going to teach you all how to cast a patronus. For any of you that don’t know, this is a positive light that can defend you against dementors. Dementors are quite rare nowadays, during the war they were everywhere, but now since a lot of the darkness has gone away, there are hardly any dementors left. It’s always good to know how to defend yourselves though as they still exist and it’s better learning the spell and being prepared than being left defenseless. I’ve always hated dementors myself, if they get too close they can leave you with only your very worst memories. The worse memories that you have, the more they will affect you so lots of your parents and my friends who were fighting in the war, or even just were alive at this time, will have a lot of bad things that the dementors can remind you of. The main way to recognize dementors is from the cold in the air, it feels like everything freezes all of a sudden, it’s an unnatural cold, it just appears out of nowhere. You will start to have thoughts of your worst memories and see big black cloaked figures floating. They won’t be able to talk and you won’t see a face. Now, would Nev...... I mean Professor Longbottom mind demonstrating for me? Neville is very good at this spell, it’s all about focusing on your happiest memory.” Neville joined Harry and casted his spell. The herbology professor’s patronus danced around the room and students gasped and pointed, most of them had never seen one before.  
“I don’t expect anyone to cast the spell today, most wizards are unable to, however without the presence of a dementor someone might be capable of achieving a tiny wisp of white light. This is very high level magic, you don’t learn this at Hogwarts but since it is one of my best spells, I find it easier than a lot of them, I thought I might as well teach you it.”  
As the students and teachers attempted the spell, Harry walked around and corrected their movements and encouraged them to think happy thoughts. He truly loved teaching this spell as it required people to think of their best moments, Harry still struggled to feel happy this long after the war, but when he cast his own patronus for another demonstration, he was in such a good mood he didn’t even need to remember a different time.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Dream

Harry was paralysed with fear. He felt like the crying one year old baby in the cot again, only this time it was a different James and Lily being murdered, dying to protect him. The lights were blinding, spells going off in the dark from every direction. Everywhere he turned he saw bodies, Hermione, killed by Bellatrix as she died to protect her children. It was torture to him, he could not summon up the will to fight for them, too scared to jump in front of a curse. Bellatrix, having used the cruciatus curse on Hermione so far past the stage of madness that she was dead, was now subjecting Harry’s daughter to the same fate. Lily screamed helplessly, she was still a child and had stood no chance against the insane but brilliant witch, but she had still stood her ground, tried to fight, something that Harry could not summon the courage for. Right beside them was Albus, laying still and couldn’t even scream as Nagini tore apart every inch of his body, he was barely alive, the only hope for him would be if Harry was to destroy her with the sword of Gryffindor, too bad it would never come, because even if it was right there Harry would have been too scared to do it. Worst of all, behind Albus and Lily was a circle of people. Right in the centre was Voldemort, and to Voldemort’s right was James. Harry recognized many faces surrounding them, but their eyes were glazed over and they were shooting spells out with no regard for what they were doing. Mrs Weasley hit James’s arm with a reductor curse, he howled in pain as it was blasted apart. Neville missed with findfyre and Harry saw Sirius at the other side of the curse get eaten by a terrible golden snake. Voldemort himself frequently slashed his wand towards Harry’s child and it hurled out spells that Harry didn’t even know were possible. James screamed. Lily screamed for the last time and went still as Bellatrix cackled and sung. Albus had no blood left to keep him alive. Harry did nothing. Suddenly whatever was left of Harry crumpled in agony as he heard Ginny yell his name. She was so close and if he had just found the courage to even stun her attacker, he could save her. He watched as tears rolled down her eyes and she fought to stay alive. Umbridge was carving words into her skin and Harry was too distracted by her yelling his name to take them in. He knew he should save her. And James. And everyone he knew and loved who were forced into playing the roulette. Otherwise sooner or later they’d end up dead. He knew he had to save them but he couldn’t, he just didn’t do it. And then everything disappeared.   
He slowly opened his eyes and he gradually adjusted his eyes to the room he was in. Ginny was kneeling beside him, her face was streaked with tears and she kept saying his name. Harry realized he was still violently shaking and his face was dripping with sweat. He turned his head slightly and saw Ron and Hermione in his bedroom, not quite as upset as Ginny but both looked very shaken and both held their wands loosely to the side.   
“Harry, thank goodness you’re awake I was so scared, it’s been an hour since I woke up and you were shouting and screaming and nothing would work to wake you up, I fire called Ron and Hermione and they came right here and we tried every spell we knew. Harry calm down it’s okay, you’re okay, you killed Voldemort in 1998 and this is 2020, please don’t worry he can’t come back. I’m sorry for crying and shouting your name, I know that probably made it worse but I couldn’t think what else to do.”  
Harry was still shaking very hard and tried unsuccessfully to sit up, he felt guilty for making her upset and angry at himself for having the dream in the first place.  
“Harry, please don’t move, you don’t need to it’s fine, everything’s all right just stay still for a minute.”  
“Ginny, what about James and Albus and Lily? Where are they?”  
“It’s okay, they’re all at Hogwarts still, they’re in lessons and Minerva knows about the situation here and I think she will pull them aside at breaktime and tell them but I thought it best to leave them there for now until you’re feeling slightly better.”  
Harry sighed in relief now that he knew that they had been safe the whole time. His world has been turned upside down from the second he thought they were in danger from Voldemort.   
“What exactly happened? Like what did I do? It all felt so real.”  
This time Ron spoke. “Well it was sort of like that time you had the vision of my dad with the snake but no scar pain and it was longer today. It was scary, we didn’t know if you were dying or something or if whatever you were seeing was real.”   
Hermione nodded while Ron was speaking and then continued on when he had finished. “Harry, we had a theory... we know that when you were killed in the Forest you lost your connection to Voldemort so that can’t be it. It couldn’t be a normal nightmare either because magic would easily overpower it. We think that maybe... you had some kind of magic aided nightmare, that since you are clearly so affected by everything, as you should be of course, no one could even imagine what it was like to be in your shoes, not even us and we were involved too. But we were thinking that possibly when these memories kind of take over you, your magic is sort of driven inwards. Kind of like Dumbledore’s sister Ariana.” She waited for Harry to respond with an almost wary expression, not knowing how he would react to their theory. Harry was shocked. It fit so well and almost immediately he was sure that’s what was happening but it made him feel so ashamed and guilty. How was it that everyone else was able to properly control their emotions but he was left unable to move after a simple nightmare? He was supposed to protect them, not the other way around. He felt as helpless and selfish as the nightmare had made him feel. He imagined Ginny crying over his unconscious body as he twisted and shouted in agony. He felt awful for hurting her like that. He always had, couldn’t he just suffer by himself for once? Ginny had been trapped in the chamber of secrets at age 11, she could deal with that trauma without her magic turning on her. And Ron, Hermione, they have their own life together and because of Harry they were stuck here this morning. Hermione was tortured by Bellatrix, both of them had been through nearly everything that Harry had, and yet Harry was the only one to be unable to pull himself together and get on with life.  
“Sorry. I’m so sorry I put all three of you through this, I’m sure I’ll be fine, you just go to work and I’ll take care of this.” Harry tried again to sit up and grimaced in pain.  
“Harry, mate, no offense but how can you ever think we’d leave you like this???”   
“I thought we’d covered this ground for the last time when we agreed to hunt Horcruxes. This is nothing compared to what you’ve done for us in the past.” Ginny brushed a tear out of her eyes before speaking. She gently took Harry’s hand and looked at him. “I’m never leaving you alone again. I’ll always be there for you. Always.” Harry saw the determination in her eyes and knew there was no point in arguing.   
“ I don’t want to force you away, but Ginny you should be at work, I know how much you love it there, Hermione you too, you never take a morning off”  
Ginny smiled gently “Sorry Harry but I already told them I couldn’t make it, you’ll have to spend time with me.” Harry stared back in confusion “How did you get off? I thought everyone at the Prophet was swamped with the Chudley Cannons match? They actually won for the first time in years!!!”  
Ginny grinned “Yeah most are, but in case you haven’t noticed I’m an ex professional quidditch player, a war hero in a family of war heroes and most importantly the wife of the Chosen One. I told them it was a family issue and they offered me a month off on double pay.” Seeing Harry’s concerned face she added “Don’t worry I didn’t say what it was and luckily my department know that if they dare make a front page story about you that doesn’t mention Quidditch..... Well my Bat Bogey hexes have only gotten stronger with age.”  
“A month off on double pay???” Hermione smirked, “That’s what you get for working with wizards who keep up with life.” Hermione was a research scientist, a department of the Ministry created by her, that works with muggles and wizards to find links between magic and muggle sciences. After she completed Hogwarts education apparently this wasn’t enough, she studied a degree in science and philosophy at a muggle university for four years while working to reform the Ministry of Magic. She spent half her time researching at a prestigious university in London and working with very boring muggles, and the other half in her real office in the Ministry. Some high ranking muggles understood her position but most just assumed she was a scientist. Most of the wizards in her Ministry department were all quite old and boring, a bit mad most of them and very out of touch with society, on Harry’s last visit one had mistaken Harry for a trainee working in the Department of Magical Catastrophes. “My department still think that Dumbledore is Headmaster of Hogwarts and asked me had I heard of him.” Harry laughed. “What did you tell them?”   
“I told them that Dumbledore died about 23 years ago but yes I heard of him, in fact he left me a book in his will. It was quite weird actually, they all were holding back tears and I was just wondering how on this earth they could have missed the whole war. I mean they had to have lived through it. Anyway that’s not important, I told them I couldn’t come in today and I think they understood. They’re brilliant at their jobs but I thought my social skills were bad....”  
“I told George what happened and of course he let me off, he wishes he could have come but someone has to keep the store open.” Harry immediately felt guilty again, he hoped the rest of the family didn’t know because he was fine and this was nothing. He was lucky that the wards on the house could easily keep reporters out, the last thing he needed was more fame. Slowly the morning passed and Kreacher, eager to help Harry in any way he could, made a mountain of treacle tart which sadly he didn’t feel up to eating. He didn’t want to hurt the house elf’s feelings but luckily Ron was more than capable of dining for two. Harry still felt shaken and sore but he was glad to spend time with his three favourite people, as time went on, their time together was always limited.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry was exhausted but he refused to sleep, he was too worried about what would happen if he lost control, could he hurt others? Eventually Ginny persuaded or rather practically forced, him to take a dreamless sleep potion and promised that one of them would stay with him to make sure he didn’t do anything. They had them on hand, as many people heavily involved in the war did.  
A few minutes after Harry fell asleep Ginny sneaked back into the room after leaving Hermione in the spare room and pretending to sleep herself, nothing would keep her away from Harry and she spent the rest of the day and night confiding to her older brother all of her fears about how Harry was dealing with memories of the war. The next morning Harry woke up and he had a feeling Ginny had charmed the potion to work for longer than it naturally should. He attempted to get out of bed and winced. Hermione conjured a crutch and Harry ignored her and pushed himself up and tripped over his own feet and landed face down on the floor. Ron sniggered and Ginny just rolled her eyes at him “Harry, you idiot. Here.” She handed him the crutch and he tentatively pulled himself up and took a few steps limping. He groaned “I feel OLD!!! There has to be some quicker way of fixing this, I can’t walk around like THIS all day.” He pictured himself stumbling down the street as reporters crowded round him, they’d probably think of a story that he was sick and dying and he’d spend the next month trying to explain to people that he was fine and perfectly capable. Or worse they’d insist that Voldemort was back and send the public into a mad panic. Hermione interrupted his thoughts, “No you can’t and that’s why we’re going to Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts to get some healing potions.” Harry considered it for a second; on one hand he liked Hogwarts and it would give him a chance to see the kids, he couldn’t understand how most parents just saw their children at Easter and Christmas, he found excuses to be at Hogwarts at least once a month. It had been a month and a half already and Easter wasn’t for another four weeks. On the other hand though, he hated being treated like this because he could take care of himself perfectly well thanks. He knew that no matter what he said, he wouldn’t have a say in this, Ginny had inherited her mother’s stubbornness.  
-  
James walked into Potions to loud cheers. “POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!”  
“James, that was brilliant!!! I can’t believe we had a game of QUIDDITCH IN HISTORY OF MAGIC!!!! How did you get Binns to not see?????”   
James grinned, “Simple. I used a Patented Daydream Charm (New and Improved Suitable For Ghosts) that my uncles sent me.” The class cheered louder and someone else yelled “I thought those were banned at Hogwarts? How did you get it past Filch?”  
“Um I think you’re forgetting that my uncles INVENTED the charm, I think they can get it past a caretaker who can’t even do magic.” Half the class gasped with badly concealed awe and James’s friend who had hung back in the last class with him to erase any leftover evidence spoke, “James is EVERYONE in your family famous?”   
“Well yeah I think..... I know my dad’s mum had Muggle relatives who were pretty normal though. But everyone else is pretty much known for something... My great grandfather invented like that potion girls use in their hair and skele grow but most of my family are famous cause of the war.”  
The class continued to stare at him in awe, no matter how long they knew him they still wanted to hear about his family but James didn’t mind. His brother hated it but James loved being a Potter, there were so many good things about having a famous family. He’d even worked out the whole autograph thing, he’d sold lots of his books and Hogwarts equipment to Hogwarts students because his parents had written his name on all of it, even though it said “James Potter”, loads of Hogwarts students, even the 7th years, would buy first year textbooks that Harry Potter himself had written in, and James charmed each to have an authenticity mark to prevent counterfeits. Then he would owl order new copies of everything and still had lots of spending money left over. In second year, his mum found out about his scheme and James swears he can still hear her shout ringing in his ears. Luckily his dad was still looking to get away from publicity and they arranged a deal that Harry would refuse to sign autographs and instead direct them all to James’s newfound business. Some of his uncles and aunts claimed to be helping James to become the next Weasley family entrepreneur and joined in. Ginny and Hermione refused to acknowledge it but every so often Ginny would include a signature with a letter from home and James would raffle it off and basically the whole of Hogwarts entered because it was so rare. James didn’t just keep the money though, if he did he’d be too rich and wouldn’t really have anything to do with that much and would probably just get sick on fizzing whizzbees from Honeydukes since he knew the passageways so well he was there more frequently than McGonagall would suggest. He was rarely caught and he wasn’t sure if this was his skill or luck, faults in the system that stops students from escaping, or if the teachers just ignored him. He donated most of his earnings to the Remus Foundation, a charity set up by his family that helps anyone affected by the war. He was proud of what he gave the money to, his father had always taught him that Gryffindors have strong beliefs and morals and he realized from his family how awful the war was. Most of his classmates at Hogwarts knew of at least one family member or friend of their family who died, but James knew that his was the most involved in it and he had heard that his father was never the same after it. His dad seemed fine and happy but he suspected that maybe his family was hiding something. James was brought back to his thoughts as Professor Haywood walked in and he panicked as she immediately looked in his direction. His class were shooting guilty glances from Haywood to James and James noticed that her expression was definitely not as happy as usual, it didn’t look angry either but maybe she would take him out first. She was a particularly nice teacher but she never shied away from disciplining them, only if they deserved it though, she was very fair. “James Potter, could I see you outside for a moment?” The class whispered loudly, half of it was telling him “good luck” and “hope you only have one detention” and the other half was laughing at him. James followed his teacher outside apprehensively. He knew he must have got caught and prayed that teachers couldn’t ban students from playing Quidditch.


	8. Chapter 8

Albus was early to History of Magic as always and Professor Binns had begun the lecture on goblin wars. Albus found it fascinating, both he and Scorpius loved History of Magic and Albus couldn’t understand what the rest of his family disliked so much. His younger sister was interested in history but she was more interested in family history, learning stories of their dead relatives which Albus often found boring and repetitive but he knew he could not say that, he didn’t know how his family would react but he had a feeling his dad especially would be very upset and Albus didn’t like to disappoint him. They already sensed that he was less interested than his siblings, James would always enjoy stories of the Marauders pranks even after the story had been retold fifteen times. Lily liked to hear everything from the pranks to the brave acts and even just stories about mundane everyday life. Albus was more of a fan of ancient history, GENERAL history with no mention of Potters, Weasleys, or any of the families he knew he was related to vaguely. He supposed that was why he loved the goblin wars, he was hearing names he’d never heard before, people who weren’t famous but were only known by wizards who studied history. He couldn’t wait to do it for NEWT and suspected that he’d be the first in his family to do so. Properly anyway, James’s year had been forced to take it in 6th year due to Professor Binns taking a year out and so they had to complete their OWL a year late. Albus smiled at the memory of when his brother had realized that the subject was still compulsory for OWL if your teacher takes a year studying modern history as he was so ancient that McGonagall decided he needed a refresher. Albus however, was taking it by choice no matter how much his family tried to dissuade him. Oh well, add that to the list of “first in the family”, he thought that NEWT History of Magic would not make as much of an impression as being sorted into Slytherin had already. Sadly that meant no help over school breaks with essays, but that was just more of an excuse to owl Scorp more often and arrange to meet up. That was an advantage to having a rich family, Albus had his own owl that spent more of the time at his best friend’s house than at his own. Albus could also amuse himself with books, he had his own private library as he loved to immerse himself in other people’s worlds, a love that his siblings definitely did NOT share. While at Hogwarts he was frequently gifted books by his Aunt Hermione, she was delighted that at least one of the kids shared her passion for reading and would owl him the most out of her nephews and nieces with books from both the wizarding and muggle worlds. Whenever he finished a book, a note would appear with a review his aunt had written and he liked these even more than the books themselves, it was nice having someone in his family who shared his interests as he often felt like the odd one out. The class arrived slowly, it seemed like the more popular you were, the slower you could be to arrive to classes at Hogwarts. Of course, Albus and Scorpius weren’t, but they observed the social hierarchy as outsiders. Quite a few Ravenclaws arrived first, with some ambitious Slytherins and hardworking Hufflepuffs. Before it got too late however, all the Slytherins were seated and Binns was left waiting for most Hufflepuffs and all Gryffindors, who didn’t mind making a big late entrance. Or he would have been waiting if he hadn’t started the lesson five minutes before any students arrived. Albus noticed that Binns seemed a little strange today, he looked like he was groggy from a long nap apart from the fact that ghosts are unable to sleep and feel tiredness. Albus tried to ignore that and listened to the lecture attentively while some of his classmates raced enchanted paper airplanes across the ceiling. He couldn’t understand how they got so bored so quickly, he’d only been there for less than ten minutes and they’d arrived about thirty seconds ago. They jumped with a start as someone knocked on the classroom door, a bright blue paper plane began to fall and unfold itself into undone homework, while a neon green one ripped itself to shreds, showering them all with confetti.  
-  
Lily and Hugo arrived to Muggle Studies (now compulsory for first and second years) just in time as they were down visiting Hagrid since Herbology ended half an hour earlier than usual. Professor Longbottom had received an owl and explained to the class that they would have an extra break today as he had an urgent matter to attend to and the whole class were ecstatic and so was Lily but she was also confused, this didn’t usually happen so she went to the place where mysteries were most easily solved. Hagrid was usually easy to wheedle information out of and he had a particular soft spot for Lily and her brothers and cousins. Sadly today Hagrid didn’t give any indication that today was in any way a special or unique day so Lily was forced to conclude that maybe the plants in Greenhouse 5 needed urgent watering. Until Professor Creevey who was always early, was more than five minutes late which again raised her suspicions that SOMETHING was up. Lily enjoyed Muggle Studies, she was quite good at it because her dad had grown up living with Muggles and would always explain to her how things worked and tell her of the importance of knowing about the Muggle world, she had been there quite a few times, particularly with her Aunt Hermione and cousin Hugo. Her favorite thing about the Muggle world was the TV, they had one at home and it was great fun, she particularly liked Disney films and begged her parents to take her to Disneyland. When James found out about rollercoasters, he was fascinated and joined her persuading. Albus wasn’t too fussed but had realized that if the four of them went away, he could stay with the Malfoys, so he was always keen to drop a few Disney hints. Anyway the point is, Lily enjoyed Muggle Studies. The teacher Professor Creevey, Dennis she thought his name was, Lily knew had spoken out against her father and Albus Dumbledore after the war, claiming that they had worked too much for the greater good and could have saved more lives, particularly those of underage students. His older brother had been killed in the final battle and Lily had heard that some family members of those who had died resented her father and she felt so bad for him, it was obvious to her that he felt guilty and responsible for all of the deaths or injuries in the war, which she knew he shouldn’t because it was all Voldemort’s fault. Professor Creevey had worked with Amos Diggory, the father of Cedric Diggory in the Ministry of Magic before coming to Hogwarts to teach. Lily was nervous when she heard he would be her teacher but she didn’t share her fears with anyone, she was conscious of the fact that she knew more information about adults in the Wizarding world than her parents would like. She knew that she was much more perceptive than most children her age, throughout her life she had listened closely to stories from anyone who would tell her. Luckily, she had nothing to be worried about, Professor Creevey was a kind teacher who didn’t share his political beliefs with his students and if anything, favoured Lily for her knowledge of his subject. Hugo nudged her, “Listen” he hissed, “Creevey’s asking for you!!” She glanced up and while she was in her daydream, their professor had entered the room. “Lily, would you mind talking to me outside for a second? Class, while I’m gone could you turn to page sixty in the textbook and work in pairs to write any information you already know about electricity?”  
Lily followed her teacher outside, trying to remember if she’d pulled any pranks recently and which ones she’d get in the worst trouble for.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Hospital Wing

Harry tried not to limp too much as he held on to the crutch for support. He hoped that they wouldn’t meet anyone on their way across Hogwarts as this was just humiliating, he hadn’t even done anything important like a duel that he could get injured in, he imagined people’s faces as they heard the story of how he almost killed himself accidentally when he got too invested in a dream about the war. He had never heard of this happening to anyone before but what was worrying him more was that Hermione hadn’t either. He’d always been an exception to the laws of magic though due to the connection with Voldemort, Dumbledore had once told him that him and Voldemort had explored magic that was “untried and untested”. This scared Harry, he greatly hoped that this was not one of those situations as he couldn’t stand the thought of Voldemort controlling his life again, however he knew for sure that Voldemort could not come back to life but this only comforted him slightly. Soon they arrived at the hospital wing which was mercifully empty apart from Poppy Pomfrey. She offered them tea and Ginny helped Harry into a chair. “You’re lucky you arrived today, it’s right in the middle of the Quidditch season, all the children who got injured in the last match have recovered and they haven’t started seriously training for the next. The teachers are piling homework on them at the moment which is good because it means they are safe in their common rooms or in the library where they can’t get hurt. Or are less likely to anyway.....” Eventually they finished their tea, Harry vanished his when the others weren’t looking as he wasn’t thirsty and didn’t want to attract attention. Poppy insisted he lay down for a while despite his objections, all he’d done since his magic aided nightmare yesterday was sleep and he couldn’t even do that without the help of a potion. He was very frustrated with himself and he suddenly realized how stubborn everyone around him was. Pomfrey examined him which involved her doing some very complicated spellwork, Harry flinched slightly the first time she turned her wand towards him, still a reaction he had after the war. After around five minutes she set her wand down. “Ginny, while he was asleep and you couldn’t wake him, did he thrash around at all or stay still?”  
“He wouldn’t stop moving and shaking the whole time, I tried casting spells to keep him still but they all failed.”  
“Harry, I’m afraid to say that I agree with your idea about your magic turning inwards. The more involved emotionally you became, the harder it was to wake you and as you thrashed around, you damaged your body even more, that’s why the pain is most prevalent in your arms and legs because you moved them the most. Frankly, I’m shocked that you’re able to walk. You came very close to dying, you’re lucky, you’ve always been able to pull through any obstacle, if only barely.”  
Harry listened intently as Poppy explained, he felt awful that he couldn’t even control himself and wished he could force himself to, Ginny didn’t deserve to be worrying about him, all of that should be in the past. She glanced at him and he noticed her blazing eyes, and he realized in that moment that he really should be paying more attention to her, she was beautiful. Poppy handed him a cup “Drink this, it’s a simple healing potion that doesn’t do much but should help slightly.”  
“Poppy” Ginny said as she finally looked away from her husband “Is there any way to stop this from happening to Harry again?”  
“To anyone else, I may have suggested a strong memory charm to prevent them from accessing those memories that are causing them harm, but I know you well enough to know that it would not be an option.”  
Harry shook his head violently, he would never run away from a problem like that, whatever he was he wasn’t a coward. “I’m kind of afraid to ask, but does Occlumency help?” He half heartedly hoped she’d say no, that was one branch of magic that he hated, suppressing his emotions seemed like the right thing to do in this case but he found it extremely difficult and tedious. He was willing to attempt it once again if it meant protecting Ginny and his children, at least this time he couldn’t have Snape as a teacher.  
“Occlumency is normally used for hiding your thoughts from intruders, but I suppose it could work in this scenario..... But more than that I would just suggest distractions. You have a close family and friend group, stick with them. Maybe consider going back to Quidditch doing it full time, only after I approve that you’re better of course, but you could think about playing again because somehow you haven’t aged like the rest of us, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were still eighteen physically.”  
Harry grinned, the thought of Quidditch was a lot easier than Occlumency. He didn’t know if any teams would take a forty year old new player but it was worth a try anyway, he knew he still had the skill. “Poppy before you go...... Here.” Harry handed her a handful of coins that added up to 25 galleons, £125 in muggle money. Poppy looked shocked. “Harry, you know I can’t take this. You’re an old friend and I get paid enough by Hogwarts to do my job and that’s not why I do this.”  
“I know why you do what you do. But you get paid by Hogwarts to look after the children and keep them safe, not to spend time healing me.” Harry said firmly.   
“I help you because my job is to heal anyone who requires it.” Her voice softened, “I also have to say Harry, it’s an honour to have you as my patient, I respect you enormously for everything you’ve done for our world. You have no idea how much most of this country would give for you to trust them to this extent. I know you hate hearing this but you truly are our hero.” Harry lay there awkwardly, he didn’t quite know how to respond to this but he knew she was telling the truth. Most of the Wizarding country treated him as if he were their version of the Muggle royal family, it was common for them to swear their loyalty to him or say that they were honored to do even the simplest of things for him. Some, particularly those of an older generation would even insist on bowing or curtseying to him which he found awfully uncomfortable and weird, he was only Harry, no one special, but to them that meant so much more. Of course there were those on the flip side of things who were worse, Voldemort had gone for good 20 years ago so the planned out and well executed Dark activity was virtually non existent but there was no possible way to wipe out the entirety of his followers and everyone who supported his ideals. All of the suspected ringleaders of the Death Eaters were dead like Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback, or else imprisoned for life like Yaxley, Crabbe and Goyle Sr, but during the war there were hundreds or thousands of Snatchers across the country, as well hundreds of children indoctrinated with Voldemort’s ideals when the Death Eaters took Hogwarts. Most knew it was wrong, with only a year spent learning to use Dark Magic and how Muggles were vicious animals and they were able to see through the cruelty they were learning. Some loved it and took it to heart, were only students so they weren’t blamed for their actions, but when they left school they looked for something to turn their love for Voldemort’s regime and anger that it had ended, towards. There had been frequent attempts on Harry’s life throughout the years, he was always the figurehead for the movement against Voldemort, a very political figure whether he wanted to be or not. People had strong opinions either way about him and they didn’t care whether or not he asked for them. Luckily none of the plots to kill him had been successful so far, every time, there was someone who got a hold of the plans or they were unable to get through the wards protecting the place he was in, or closer still he was just too quick for them. They were never criminal masterminds and all had been successfully jailed for life in Askaban. This however meant that Harry still had to have some protection at all times, as did the rest of his extended family who had now become targets due to their own anti-Voldemort actions during the war. It was frustrating that after twenty years they still had to be careful, but their houses were safely warded and since many of them had completed Auror training they could act as bodyguards for their own children. Even some of those who hadn’t chosen to work in the field such as Ginny, Percy and Fleur had done the training purely to protect themselves and their families.   
Poppy Pomfrey had exited the side room he was in, leaving him alone with Ginny. Harry smiled mischievously “I charmed the coins. She won’t be able to refuse them because they’ll appear in her office at 9 o clock tonight so long as I’ve left this room, regardless of what she says, I’m paying her, I know what Neville makes teaching and it’s not a fortune let’s just say. It’s unlikely that they pay her more than a teacher but even if they do she’s still getting my money.” Ginny laughed, her husband was generous but always made his generosity sound like a childish competition. “Smart plan...... but there’s one very amateur problem in your great plan to pay her.” Harry stared at her quizzically, he’d thought his plan was brilliant. “There is?” She sighed as if he was sounding extremely dumb. “Harry...... For that to work she’d have to LET you leave this room. Think back to all those times that you went off on your dangerous adventures and came back battered. How often did Poppy let you out of her sight as soon as you decided to leave?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay new chapter!!! well not new to me i think i wrote this about a week ago but it’s new for posting, caught up with posting this on here as well as Wattpad at the same time. I’m tired and it’s late so please ignore my stupid authors note rambling. Follow @gryffindormystery on insta for updates on this story and for my HP fan acc 💖💖


	10. Chapter 10

Harry it turns out, hadn’t thought things through and sure enough when Poppy came back into the room she exploded at him as he was getting ready to leave. She refused even to let him out of bed and Harry wondered had she ever done the same to people like Dumbledore, when he was younger he’d assumed when you grow up you no longer have to listen to Madam Pomfrey, how wrong he was. This was the woman who threw the Minister of Magic and Albus Dumbledore out when they had been too loud for her patients once. “HARRY POTTER. You will stay on here, in this bed for as long as I tell you to, I swear you’re no better than your son. Comes in here with two broken arms and a broken nose AND a concussion at age 13 after claiming to be the “greatest seeker since his father” and then has the nerve to ask if he could play in the match the next day......”  
“I’m nowhere near as bad as James!!!” Harry said indignantly. Poppy laughed slightly before continuing, “Never mind, you’re a lot worse, at least when James gets hurt he allows someone to fix him, you on the other hand won’t see a healer unless your life depends on it. And even then, Ginny has to drag you by your practically useless legs.”  
Harry sighed “I’m honestly fine Poppy, I’ve gotten myself out of a lot worse than this before.”  
“The point isn’t that you can’t, we know very well that you’ll do anything and everything to get yourself through, the point is that you shouldn’t have to. This isn’t the war Harry, you have time to fix things now, make yourself better. You’re not doing anything just for you, you need to live for yourself as well as for others. There is still a very high chance of your magic turning inwards and killing you in the process, but there is no way to stop that, although I will try my best, and you also have some of the cleverest witches and wizards in the country who would be willing to help in any way they can. Talk to Hermione, she has the resources and intelligence to help you, you really need the help and I don’t know how much longer you’d last without it, even with your incredible amount of luck and resilience.”  
She promised Harry that as long as he stayed where he was, she would allow his children to visit. Harry knew that technically she couldn’t actually stop them from visiting, since he was an adult now, but she made it sound like a compromise and he just went with it as he knew she wouldn’t let him out of that irritating bed. She was a brilliant healer that Harry trusted more than any at St Mungos but she was strict and Harry supposed that was good for him, most people (outside of his family) would just do whatever he wanted with no complaints and it was nice to get a bit of backlash sometimes.   
-  
Albus watched as the paper airplane disintegrated and his Head of House stepped into the classroom. Professor Binns continued the lecture as if nothing had happened and Professor Martens glanced over at Binns and raised an eyebrow before she spoke. “Mr Potter, a word.” Albus stared at his best friend for a second, as if willing him to come too, before hurriedly walking out. “I’d suggest bringing your books too as I don’t think you’ll be back today.” Albus looked puzzled but ran back to take his stuff. Once outside the classroom, Professor Martens started to explain. “Mr Potter, I’m sorry to say this but your father and mother are both here as your father is in the Hospital Wing. I can take you up to meet them now, your brother and sister have been sent for as well.” Albus stared at her slightly in shock, he had expected that she was here to talk to him about his Charms homework or he’d been late to her class at some point. “What happened to my dad? Is he ok?”  
“I’m sorry but I don’t know the details of what happened, Professor McGonagall met him when he arrived and she already knew what was going on and she sent an owl round some of the teachers asking for us to find you and your siblings. I don’t think I should be the one to explain everything to you, you’ll see your mother and father in a moment.” Albus quietly followed her up towards the hospital wing, imagining his Dad in all sorts of dangerous situations that he’d read about in books, like being cursed or meeting a dragon. Sadly he could very easily see his dad in all of those heroic (and also painful) stories.  
James followed Professor Haywood nervously, he really didn’t want a detention but he still hoped, detention was nothing compared to losing his place as Quidditch captain. Professor Haywood was a nice teacher, quite lenient, she’d said in the past that James and his friends reminded her of her time at Hogwarts nearly 40 years ago. She’d been in Teddy’s mother’s and Uncle Charlie’s year and had apparently got up to a lot of mischief searching for some kind of curse so James supposed she wasn’t the worst teacher who could be punishing him and although she was head of Hufflepuff she was fair and wouldn’t sabotage the other teams. He hoped anyway but you can never be too careful....... oh never mind, what was he saying, he was never careful, that must be how he was caught. Finally Haywood brought him into an empty classroom and shut the door behind her. Oh no this was bad, very bad. Usually teachers would just yell in the corridors. James drifted off, this was likely to take a while and he’d tune back in when she gets to his punishment. “and if there’s anything I can do for you or your family please don’t hesitate to let me know. You’re exempt from the test on Friday.” James suddenly paid attention.... WHAT did she just say?!?! She looked at him as if she was concerned but waited for him to speak. “Um.... Professor, I didn’t catch that bit, could you please repeat it?” Better being extra polite, except he was slightly unsure now if he was really being punished, perhaps he should have listened...... “I said that I can take you up there right now if you’d like.” Ok now something was really up, “if you like” does not really sound like she was punishing him. James looked bewildered. Professor Haywood clearly noticed he was acting weirdly, “James, do you want me to say that all again?” James nodded. “I’m really sorry to tell you, but your father is here at Hogwarts in the Hospital Wing. Headmistress McGonagall told me to fetch you, she told me something serious had happened but she didn’t say what, I didn’t ask because I think it’s better for your parents to explain, we can go up there right now if you’d like. You’re exempt from Friday’s test and feel free to talk to me if you or any of your family need anything.” James just stared at her. Clearly he’d got away with the Quidditch game but that hardly mattered now, he’d rather have the detention. She said it, whatever it was, is serious, and usually when adults said that to him, they really meant it.  
Lily followed her teacher out of the room apprehensively and they had barely got out of the room when they met Professor Longbottom. She smiled at him as they passed and her teacher stopped. She heard a muttered “Perhaps you might be better to tell her” and her Head of House nodded and said to her “Hey Lil, can you come with me? I need to tell you something”. Lily was surprised, Neville usually called her Lily or else Miss Potter while in school, never by a nickname. Her teacher said goodbye and went back to his class and Lily walked beside Professor Longbottom. He walked slower than usual but didn’t stop when he started his explanation. “Lily, your father..... he’s here today and he wants to tell you and your siblings something. Don’t bother getting excited because it’s nothing good sadly. I haven’t seen him yet, he’s with your mother and Madam Pomfrey, she refuses to let anyone in but you and your siblings and probably only because Harry would have a fit if he couldn’t see you. Something is badly wrong with him but I don’t know what exactly.” Lily’s first thought was that she felt so bad for her father because she knew that he’d blame himself for whatever this was, and then he’d only think about the impact it would have on everyone else. She met her siblings on the way up the stairs. They communicated silently with facial expressions trying to figure out what was going on, however they knew there was no point in exchanging stories, they’d hear whatever it was in just a second. They had never been left in the dark with important matters as their parents had both had enough of that as children and always told them at least the basics. Their teachers left them to go on in and Madam Pomfrey brought them into a bright white side room where they saw their mum sitting in a comfortable armchair that did not match the room, and their dad lying awake in a bed. He was very pale and his face was lined and every small movement he made looked labored and difficult. James ran to hug his mother and Albus and Lily went to either side of their dad’s bed and Lily gave him a very small hug, his arms were freezing but his chest was almost too hot to be close to. Suddenly three chairs appeared just behind each of Harry’s children and their mother gestured for them to sit down. All three began to talk at once.  
“What happened, why are you here? Is something wrong?”  
“Dad are you ok?”  
“Our teachers were acting really weird, said something had happened...”  
Ginny interrupted their questions with a laugh, “First of all, hello. I know all three of you are dying to know what is going on, what exactly did your teachers say to you?”  
James jumped in immediately, “Just that Dad was here and something serious was going on but she didn’t say what.”  
“And they thought that you should explain” Albus added. Lily was staring off into the distance as if she was trying to solve a mystery. “Neville used the words “something is badly wrong” and I didn’t know what he meant.” Ginny looked thoughtful for a second “I just wanted to know to see how quickly word spreads, McGonagall seems to have kept it quiet. However unfortunately your teachers are right.” Ginny and Harry told their children what had happened over the last two days and they all listened intently. They avoided telling their children what Poppy had said that Harry was quite likely to die soon, because it would only upset them and ruin any time they did have with him. Harry himself accepted this easily, it was 23 years longer than he’d expected to live and it was only a chance after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @slippery.slytherin on insta for letting me borrow your character, ily Ari 💖  
> Hope you guys whoever is reading this enjoys my story, ilyasm   
> \- @gryffindormystery on insta


	11. Chapter 11

“James, Albus, Lily, you’re all going to love this, Madam Pomfrey suggested that to help me get better, I should look into playing Quidditch professionally.”  
They all looked at him in disbelief. “SHE DID NOT!!! She hates Quidditch, she stopped me playing in the last match of the season once!!!”  
Poppy heard this and came into the room. “Your father is right James, I did suggest that he should play, what your father needs is distractions, whereas you had three bones broken and a concussion, nothing I couldn’t fix but you should at least give it two days before doing anything extreme. Your father also needs rest, he won’t be leaving here for days but after that I would highly recommend playing Quidditch and spending time with his rather large family.”  
Harry wrinkled his face up at the thought of days spent staring at these white walls, he was bored of it already.   
It was three days later when Poppy Pomfrey had finally agreed to let him go home, as long as Ginny stopped him from doing anything drastic. He was sent with lots of healing and pain relieving potions, there was nothing they could do about his actual magic turning inwards, but she could reverse any temporary effects, such as his inability to walk without assistance. Harry was more than glad to get out of there, he’d been well occupied with visits from everyone from Kreacher to Neville but he hated sitting still, it never felt right. When he finally got up after the days, he was surprised to find walking much easier than it had seemed before, clearly the potions had worked well. Poppy said a slightly emotional “Good luck” as he left, and he decided to go straight home as he’d seen everyone earlier. His children had seen him at least once a day, James a few times more than that, Harry suspected it was because his teachers felt sorry for him and allowed him to visit his father during class time, which James definitely took advantage of. Harry probably should have told him to go back but he’d hardly been able to tell the time, plus he couldn’t stand another second staring at the walls and James was always good entertainment. Harry took the floo home because there was no point walking outside of the grounds to apparate when he could just leave from Minerva’s office. He had only been alone for ten minutes when there was a knock on the door. Harry’s door looked like a plain floor length window from the inside and an elaborate windowless door from the other side, it was very useful for checking who was out there before opening, one of the more expensive things in their home as there was a point to the huge price tag. Harry reached for the invisible doorknob as he saw Hermione outside with a rucksack full of books over her shoulder, she hadn’t changed this about herself as long as Harry had known her, she always prioritized knowledge over style. “Hi, Hermione, what’s up? How’d you even know I was back?” Hermione followed him up towards his study, judging by her rather large collection of books it would be one of those type of visits. “Poppy owled me, I’m surprised she didn’t tell you I was coming.”   
“I think she was pretty busy this morning. Quidditch. She didn’t say much today, or probably couldn’t because James was talking so much, he was there A LOT.”  
“Harry, I just got back from.....”  
“Ministry library, yes, I can see. I can’t believe you still need to go there, I would have thought you’d have more books in your own collection, you certainly have sent my children a couple of library’s worth of presents.” Harry interrupted her with a laugh. Hermione blushed slightly. “Well I am always struggling to find a title that I haven’t read..... But that’s beside the point.” she said as they sat down in two large office chairs next to the desk, she began to unpack her mobile library in a rush. “Harry, first of all how are you? I haven’t seen you since the last time you were here and frankly you don’t look much better, you’re awfully pale and shaky.” Harry sighed. “I’m fine Hermione, honestly, I’m much better. Anyway,” he changed the subject abruptly, “why are you here? More specifically, with all these books?”   
“Well that’s what I want to talk to you about, I’ve been doing some research into the aftereffects of Dark Magic. Both physically and mentally. Sadly over the years, the further back I look, the less information I can find because wizards tended to be very selfish and keep discoveries and events that had happened, to themselves so that others wouldn’t “steal” it. Particularly cases involving Dark magic because as we know, dark magic users are, well....”  
“Evil.” Harry spat. His hatred for the Dark Arts had not faded over the years.  
“Well anyway they want to keep things to themselves because they believe that they are the only deserving person in the world. This leaves us with a slight issue as most of the first recorded cases of Dark magic gone wrong have been you. I started researching into the destruction of Horcruxes nearly 25 years ago and I have never come across a record of another human surviving, or even an object that could continue being used after destruction of the piece of soul. That’s why I think the only logical reason that you are experiencing these magical attacks and the rest of us aren’t, is because you were the only Horcrux. Dark magic always leaves traces and you were used and relied on by a type of it for sixteen years. You also experienced many other spells during that time, including all three of the Unforgivable curses which also affected you. Your body could be throwing back at you things that you’ve already had, but at times where you’re most vulnerable, like when you’re sleeping. We both know that it’s not Voldemort doing this to you, but Dumbledore did say once that “to speak of one is to speak of the other” and this could still hold true. Basically what I’m saying is that Voldemort has no control and he can’t come back or harm anyone else, but traces of your old connection could be hurting you alone.” Harry stared at Hermione, his “older sister” was a genius, how did she work all of this out and on top of that be able to quote something that she heard someone say 20 years ago? “Harry? Did you get that?” Harry realized he was staring at her blankly and nodded his head. “I’m almost sure you’re right. It all fits and your research has never failed us yet.” Hermione smiled slightly, she always liked compliments on her work and it was one of the only areas she would accept a compliment in. “Harry, if this is all correct, there’s no way of fixing it.”  
“Yeah I guessed...... it’s fine Hermione. It’s 23 years longer than I expected and at least I’ll never have to see Voldemort when it happens. I’m lucky, I got a life after the war, I got to marry Ginny, have three amazing kids and watch you and Ron live your dream as well. It’s more than I was meant to have.” Hermione gazed at him with concern and sadness in her eyes, she was worried about him, as was Ginny, Ron, Minerva, Poppy, anyone who knew what was likely to happen to him, which luckily wasn’t very many. He wasn’t ready to tell them, that’s the one thing he wasn’t fine with, their suffering. It was bad enough that anyone had to suffer with him. “Harry, we’ll find a way, I’m not losing my best friend and brother again.”  
-  
James was shoveling food into his mouth in the Great Hall, there was only two weeks left before Easter break and he was sure to make the most of Hogwarts cooking, although at home his house elf and grandmother did a pretty good job, his parents could not cook a thing. He’d actually seen them ruin TOAST before. On Kreacher’s days off they tended to visit family or go out to eat together, although Al made a good stab at cooking the basics, Kreacher had taught him a few summers ago. James was a pretty bad cook himself but ate like his Uncle Ron. James hardly noticed the post coming in, he’d get to it once he was full but nothing important came for him. Suddenly a boy in his gang elbowed him. “James...... You’d better see this.” He slid a copy of the Daily Prophet towards James and he began to read it. There was a picture of his father on the front page looking awful, James thought. He was pale and shaking and his mother was helping him walk with a walking stick through Hogwarts, probably he’d just arrived there.

THE CHOSEN ONE - OVERWORKED OR ILL?  
Our war veteran and “hero” as some might call him, seems to be aging much too quickly. He was spotted by a reliable source to be escorted into Hogwarts for an unknown reason, could this be an attack? A duel? An illness? Or could it just be tiredness from working himself too hard? Judging by the secretive nature of this meeting at Hogwarts, we suspect that Potter is hiding something. Still only a third of the age that his mentor and father like figure Albus Dumbledore lived to, he is showing more signs of old age than the Hogwarts Headmaster ever did. Potter’s 3 children all currently attend the school and according to Smith, a 5th year Hufflepuff student who regards himself as a close friend of James Potter’s, said that the oldest Potter child has been very upset and is confiding in his friends with his worries about his famous father. We are unable to trace many details of what has happened and this tells that Potter may be hiding something important, could You-Know-Who be trying to return to life? Could we be seeing the end of our beloved hero soon?

James read the article angrily and when he spoke, crumbs of toast flew out of his mouth. “SMITH? THEY ASKED SMITH? THE ARTICLE IS BAD ENOUGH AS IT IS, WHY DIDN’T THEY ASK ME THEMSELVES THE COWARDS!!!! Of course, I wouldn’t have told them a fucking thing but they don’t know that. WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET HOLD OF SMITH, THAT BITCH!!!!”  
“Mr Potter! That is quite enough of your foul language, why ever do you feel the need to disgrace yourself shouting in front of the entire school?”  
James looked up to see Headmistress McGonagall standing behind him looking extremely stern. One of James’s friends spoke up “Please Headmistress, it wasn’t James’s fault it was......”  
McGonagall’s face changed as she read the copy of the Daily Prophet on the table. When she looked back at James her face was serious, but much less angry and she spoke quietly. “I apologize for my outburst, I suggest you and your friends go back to the Gryffindor common room and I will deal with this, we have a strict policy on students speaking to reporters unauthorized, particularly if they are spreading rumours about other students and I assure you that you do not need to take action into your own hands, no matter how much you’d like to. I suggest you take your friends with you.” McGonagall left the hall with the paper in her hand and James’s friend slapped him on the back “Woah, James!!! I’ve never heard of anyone not getting punished when McGonagall gets involved. I wonder what will happen to Smith?”. James doesn’t reply but motions to his friends to follow him and they walk in nervous silence behind him, James never shuts up usually and the quietness was scaring his friends. They took seats beside the fire, their usual cozy spot and the common room was nearly empty, it was a sunny Saturday so after breakfast most of the students were relaxing outdoors for a change. One of the boys nervously speaks up. “James..... That Prophet story..... Was it true? Obviously not the bit about Smith” he turned his nose up in an accurate imitation of the 5th year, “but like the rest of it? It’s fine if you don’t want to tell us, we understand” James sighed. “Parts of it, clearly they’ve gotten some details wrong, but the main thoughts behind it are correct.” He began to tell them the story, he hadn’t intended to talk about it but now everyone was going to know anyway and it was better they heard facts from him rather than the rubbish in the newspaper. “And Mum and Dad didn’t say anything but I think he’s dying, from everything they told us and just how everyone acted around him and us...... It’s really scary and I’m so worried but there’s nothing we can do about it. I always thought he was invincible but maybe not.” His friends stared as he recounted the story and after he had finished they got up and hugged him. “Does Lily know?” James’s friends were also close with his sister, she was four years younger but very mature for her age. “About the article?” James asked in reply, he hadn’t seen her at breakfast and usually their friend groups sat next to eachother. “No, about what you told us....”   
“Yeah, she’s smarter than all of us, she’d pick up any hint of anything and nearly all of the time she’s right.”  
-  
Harry woke up as a newspaper owl landed on top of him. He stared at the page blankly, why does he always do this? He thought after wearing glasses since he was a kid would mean he would automatically grab them before he started to read but you can’t have everything in life. Suddenly the newspaper came into focus and he saw himself on the front page. Fuming, he tore it in half and the ripped edges began to smoke and blacken with anger. He stormed into his office, he would show them what he was capable of..... He began to write a letter addressed to Oliver Wood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys hope you like this chapter, I think it might be my favorite I’ve written


	12. Chapter 12 - Easter

It was the middle of April and Harry and Ginny had arrived at the Burrow, Ron and Hermione would be picking up all the children of the Hogwarts Express. Molly stood outside as the couple arrived and rushed to hug her two youngest children. “Oh Harry dear, how are you? We haven’t seen you since we visited you at Hogwarts, are you feeling any better? Still quite underweight by the look of you but that’s never changed.” Harry and Ginny stood awkwardly as Molly fussed over Harry, clearly very concerned. “Thank you, but I’m honestly much better.” He lied easily, he never really got better, the most he could hope for was that his family wouldn’t suffer with him, he especially wanted his children to have a good life. Molly led them inside and Kreacher was already there starting to cook excitedly, he loved his job. “I don’t know how you two survive on his days off, your cooking is actually atrocious!!! Now, remember, while you’re here I need you both to promise that you will NOT try and help with the cooking, leave everything to Kreacher and me, we would all like to be able to eat the food and I would prefer if you did not burn the house down either. I’m already questioning inviting all of you...... For some reason inviting the five Potters is much more stressful than everyone else combined!!!! Anyway, that reminds me.....” Molly flicked her wand and elaborately decorated chocolate eggs of all different shapes and sizes flew outside and began hiding themselves in the huge fields surrounding the house. She waved her wand again and about 5 large real rabbits hopped outside. “Don’t worry,” seeing Ginny and Harry’s look of horror, “I only borrowed the rabbits, they can feed and look after them for the holidays but after they go back to Hogwarts, the bunnies will return to the Magical Menangerie automatically. I have gotten them lots of Easter presents though that they can keep, George has sent a few goodies from the shop and Arthur never misses an opportunity to go into the Muggle world so there’s a few little things from there. Plus there is a lot of sweets to get though so I expect they’ll have a lot to do over the break.” Harry and Ginny smiled, they were also surprising their children and nieces and nephews with Nimbus 3000 Minis, a new and massively expensive broom designed for (rich) school students specifically made for the Hogwarts pitch and Harry and Ginny couldn’t resist buying five of them. The rest of the family didn’t know but they knew how they would react. Ron would agree it was wicked cool, he had no problem spending money after a childhood in poverty, he no longer got jealous because he had endless money too. Hermione would probably be slightly angry, she tried to teach them the value of money and let them understand what it’s like to not be rich but Ginny and Harry both agreed that the kids had learned enough about suffering and they wished for them that they could just have fun and not have to worry. Harry heard a car land loudly on the hill, Ron may have passed a Muggle test but flying was much shorter and enjoyable. They went outside to meet their children.  
“DAD! MUM! GRANNY! GRANDAD!”   
Soon the house was bursting with excited children, even with the extensions added in the last few years. It took a long time to calm them down all just back from Hogwarts, even Albus was hyper and that was saying a lot, he was usually the calm one unlike the rest of the family. Suddenly James’s trunk burst open and a Hogwarts bludger shot across the room, breaking a window and everyone ducked as it raced back like a boomerang. It disintegrated into sawdust as Ron, Harry and Ginny all hit it with a freezing charm. Harry felt slightly sorry for James and Lily as their Grandmother and Aunt shouted. Harry and Ginny probably should have said something themselves but they were struggling to not laugh. Eventually Ginny sent them upstairs to unpack QUIETLY, and the adults easily repaired the kitchen. Molly finished her Easter Egg Hunt by leaving a trail of tiny brightly coloured eggs which would explode into a rainbow when touched. This led outside to the trail of magical rabbits and chocolate treats. Soon the children were downstairs and Lily and Hugo screamed when they saw the bunnies “They’re yours until you go back to school, have fun.” Each egg had a beautifully intricate design for each person, James and Lily’s were Quidditch related, Albus and Rose both had book designs, and Hugo’s were of dragons and hippogriffs. The adults also got eggs, no surprise there Harry, Ron and Ginny also got Quidditch but Hermione’s was unique, it had a gold casing that would only open if she solved the problems which was supposed to take hours. Arthur’s egg was patterned with a collection of Muggle farm animals, mainly ducks, and these swam around a sparkling iced lake. Hermione had made Molly an egg as well, with a picture of a Weasley sweater iced for every member of their rather large family. Molly cried when she received it and spent an hour reading every name, pausing for ten minutes when she got to Fred’s. The kids opened their presents, each received a collection of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes supplies, including a potion that could turn any teacher into an Easter egg for half an hour. James and Lily engaged in a long debate on whether Binns would count,(Ron decided to not say anything until they were about to leave for Hogwarts at the end of two weeks, the answer was yes, any teacher means any). They also each received a rubber duck dressed in a tuxedo from Arthur, who was fascinated when he found there was a hotel chain that gave out rubber ducks in costume with every stay and booked 10 rooms. He had learned more and more about Muggles after he retired, but many things in their world still excited him enormously. Harry loved buying Arthur presents, he always looked for the most obscure and ridiculous Muggle products such as an Inflatable Foot Bath and a Shower Radio. The old man was always delighted and Ginny and Harry would often compete against each-other of who could find him the most inventive Muggle present. Later that night it was time to surprise the children with their new broomsticks. Harry left five minutes early from dinner although their plans were nearly thwarted because Molly was worried about him and her mind immediately jumped to bad conclusions. Luckily Ginny hissed that it was a surprise and his mother in law went red with embarrassment worried that she’d spoiled their plan with her overprotective nature. Harry set the broomsticks up in the living room and set a old snitch loose that was enchanted to lead them to the right place. The children all jumped with excitement when it darted across the kitchen table and Lily, the fastest even on foot, followed it and squealed with excitement. Eventually the rest caught up with her and Harry had to stop them from trying the brooms out indoors. He promised that they could have their annual family game the next morning and sent them to polish the brooms after they had finished hugging him and Ginny. “Are you mad?” He asked Hermione quietly later when everyone had dispersed to do their own things. “No, not today...... I usually would be when you buy them gifts this big...... But I understand because I know how little time you might have with them, you should definitely appreciate it because it is precious and I know not being there for everyone is your biggest worry and if surprising them with presents every now and then puts your mind at ease then it’s the best thing you can do.” Harry was surprised, he hadn’t expected her response. He didn’t think about it like that and her words really made him feel desperate to fight something or get rid of some threat for his children. He just couldn’t deal with the thing that was killing him being intangible and not real, when he was killing Voldemort he had a purpose but now the thought of Voldemort was killing himself and he just wanted to fight the problem away, that was what he was meant for and good at. Not this sitting waiting for it to hurt him without knowing how to stop it.   
-  
James awoke early on Easter morning, he smelled his grandmother’s cooking and knew that although they’d got their big personal eggs at the start of the holiday, there was sure to be a lot of chocolate throughout the day. He was slightly sore, Lily’s team had completely crushed them in the family Quidditch match yesterday, whoever thought to put Lily and his dad on the same team was really an idiot, at least the other adults who had been very skilled had slowed down in Quidditch, unlike his dad who had all the skills he’d gained over 30 years of playing AS WELL as somehow unbeatable speed and fitness, it just wasn’t fair. James was very good as a beater but somehow his sister and father were far too fast for him and his Uncle George to hit. Uncle Charlie was a great seeker but somehow didn’t come close to his dad. Uncle Ron and James’s cousin Fred were about evenly matched as keeper, his mother gave Lily a run for her money but was nowhere near as fast as she’d once been so Lily had an advantage, Albus and Hugo were also chasers, both pretty good, Teddy was usually a seeker but him and Victoire teamed up to be beaters, and finally Roxanne and Aunt Angelina took spots as chasers. James’ grandmother, grandfather and Aunt Hermione had watched from the sidelines with Professor Longbottom (or Neville as they were supposed to call him sometimes, it was very confusing and out of all his siblings and cousins, James messed this up the most), Neville had come round to visit as he was on Easter break too. Victoire’s parents and younger siblings couldn’t make it and neither could Uncle Percy and his family. There were usually other family friends who came along, usually old school friends of his dad’s who he had lost track of, his sister was usually the one to know everyone, but James did notice that his favorite one, Oliver Wood who was always keen to discuss Quidditch, was absent. James was quite embarrassed by the spectacular defeat, Lily (along with Hugo and Roxanne) was perfectly comfortable with playing dirty against Fred, who although a great keeper, lacked Lily’s skill, and James’s dad was by far the best player on the pitch.   
When James arrived downstairs still in his pajamas, he was the first one up for breakfast and he sat down with his grandmother in the kitchen as she fried eggs and toasted toast. “James dear, I’ll get you something in a moment, I assume you’re up so early for my special breakfast? You take after Ron..... both of you can eat quicker than I can cook and still have room for thirds when the rest of us are stuffed with one plate. Quite the opposite of your father, it’s a miracle when I get him to eat anything... He likes the food of course, but rarely is able to finish anything, he’s always been extremely skinny as long as we’ve known him. I can’t believe all of you are older now than he was the day we met him. It was your Uncle Ron’s first day at school and we noticed this small boy with an owl all alone in the middle of King’s Cross Station!!! We didn’t recognize him but we could see that he was confused, I thought he must be Muggleborn but that still didn’t explain why no one was there to help him, of course I found out later how awfully he was treated at his mum’s family’s house...... We showed him how to get onto the train and then the twins came back and said it was Harry Potter!!! To you that’s just your dad, of course, but to us this sounded like a miracle as no one had heard a thing about this miraculous child who defeated Voldemort for a decade. I suppose it must get tiring for you to hear about your dad’s achievements all the time.”  
“Well it doesn’t bother me too much, I kind of like having a dad who is brave and stood up for what he believed in, I hope I can be like him someday.”  
His grandmother looked at him with a slight tear in her eye as she served him breakfast, she looked like she hoped he would get to be very different from his dad. He was confused because he knew his grandmother loved his father possibly even more than her actual children, he supposed that his dad could be a bit sad and angry at times but that was all, he was a good person and James looked up to him and wanted to be just like him someday.  
Soon it was time for lunch, James’s favorite part of the day even though all he’d done all morning was eat breakfast and snack on chocolate. James sat beside his sister and across from his dad and Uncle Ron, his granny always tried to sit them together close to the biggest plates of food in the middle of the table as James and Ron would both eat like labradors and it saves her getting up to refill the plates. On the other side of his dad was his mum. James and Ron had a long animated discussion of who’s Quidditch team was better, James supported Puddlemere United but his Uncle was a Cannons supporter for reasons James could never understand as the last time they won the league was in 1892 and James was almost sure that Ron was not alive then. Lily his sister usually joined them in this debate, she supported the Harpies because of her mother which usually added another side to this argument but today she was concentrating on listening to her parents talk to eachother. Lily was absorbed in it and had that thoughtful expression on her face as though she was trying to figure something out as she overheard her mother talk. “Harry please, you really need to eat something more. Please, just for me, I’m getting really worried, you’ve lost so much weight recently you’re thinner than you were as a child when you came back to us from the Durselys. You don’t feel it but I can see you slipping away and I need you. I know you’re struggling at the moment and that day is coming up soon....... We’ll get through it together.” His mum looked up and noticed that all three of their children were doing a bad job at hiding their eavesdropping and she seemed to come to her senses and finally noticed the people around them. His dad didn’t even seem to care. His mum took his father’s hand and excused herself from the table and led him out. The people at the other end of the table carried on laughing and talking, not noticing anything had happened and Ron tried to distract the kids by restarting the Quidditch team argument, though he casted frequent glances towards the door.  
-  
Ginny led her husband into an empty sitting room and was terrified by his lack of response..... Of any sort of reaction. She’d dealt with him upset, angry, scared but this was a weird kind of different. She shook him and he still didn’t say anything, he looked deep in thought, his face wasn’t blank but something was definitely off. Ginny kissed him softly on the lips, he still didn’t react at all, she stood on his foot, slightly desperate to get some kind of reaction out of him. He collapsed.


	13. Chapter 13

“Harry, Harry please wake up, ennervate, ennervate” Ginny’s voice was shaking but she held her wand still as she castes the spells. They did nothing. “RON! HERMIONE!” Ron was first in the room as he had been aware that something was wrong before they left. They were shocked when they saw Harry lying unresponsive on the floor, a cut on his head from hitting it after he fell. He was pale and somehow ice cold and burning hot at the same time and even through his t-shirt they could see his ribs prominently sticking out, he was very underweight. “Right Ginny, get something soft underneath him so he doesn’t crack his skull open if he starts moving like he did the last time.” Ginny waved her wand and Harry was lifted onto a mattress that appeared on the floor. No one else followed Ron and Hermione and Ginny assumed the adults were trying to keep the children out of the way and she was very thankful, she knew that her three kids had realized something was wrong and they took after their parents, they wouldn’t rest until they were able to help. The three stood beside Harry unsure of what to do until Hermione knelt down beside him. “He’s breathing. Slightly......” Ginny sighed with relief, she had been almost too scared to check. She normally kept her head in a crisis, otherwise she wouldn’t have lived past the age of fourteen, but when Harry was in danger it almost destroyed her. Ron stepped towards the fireplace, “I’ll call McGonagall, maybe she’ll know what to do for him, she won’t be busy because it’s Easter.” Ginny nodded silently to her brother as green flames flashed and he disappeared. She moved closer to her husband and tried to shake him awake, too scared to cast any spells she whispered in his ear and begged him to wake up. He had a pained expression on his face but still stayed motionless on the floor until he jerked violently and started shouting in his sleep. Very little of what he was saying made sense, Hermione casted Mufflatio at the door to stop the others hearing. He twitched and shook uncontrollably and after what felt like ages, Ron appeared in the fire with Minerva and Poppy from Hogwarts. Poppy gently tried to pour a dark coloured potion into Harry’s mouth but it was no use, he was shaking too hard and eventually she just vanished it off him as his face was soaked in whatever the dark liquid was. Ginny knelt beside him and tried to hold his hand but he was moving far too much and she was worried she’d snap his wrist if she kept holding on. Every part of her wanted to do something but she had no idea what spell to use. Minerva was waving her wand in a complicated pattern that Ginny did not recognize, she could tell it was a difficult spell. She bent down towards Harry and touched her wand on his chest but nothing happened. By then Ron had brought their mother in and was explaining to her what had happened, she stared in disbelief at Harry, who was an adopted son to her. Suddenly Harry went completely still and silent and no one knew what to do. Ginny’s mother left the room to check on her grandchildren and Ginny carefully took Harry’s limp hand in hers, all she could do was wait with him. Poppy Pomfrey began to cast diagnostic spells on Harry while the others waited anxiously with nothing to do and no one wanted to speak in the silent room. Poppy tried again with the dark coloured potion with no luck as they couldn’t get him to swallow it. She did the same complicated wand movements that Minerva tried earlier and nothing was working. “Well Ginny, I’m sorry but I don’t know how to help him, I’ve never come across this sort of thing before and none of my contacts at St Mungos have heard of it either, I feel it would do more harm than it would good to move him. The one good thing I can say is that he is breathing, he’s alive. The potion was a very powerful but dangerous healing potion, if we’d been able to force it into him we may have woken him up but sadly now we just have to wait.” She healed the cut on his forehead that everyone else had forgotten about and continued to cast spells over Harry. “Has he eaten much recently?” She conjured a roll of tape measure and lifted Harry’s arm up, measuring around it. She flicked her wand so he rose a couple of feet in the air as she measured around his chest. She seemed worried as she finished, it was concerning her how small he was. “Actually that was what we were arguing about before he....... before he sort of fainted and fell to the floor. James and Lily heard me, I was telling Harry he needed to eat and that he was worrying me when he was losing so much weight. I brought him in here and it was weird, he barely noticed where we were going and he didn’t seem right, he wasn’t acting like himself.” The Hogwarts nurse vanished the tape measure as Harry fell back onto the mattress, still unconscious.  
-  
Lily felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping on her parents, but it didn’t make sense to her why on earth they were having their discussion when she was sitting right there. She thought her dad had seemed kind of weird, he was all right when they sat down but then sometime during the meal he changed. Suddenly she heard her mother yelling for Ron and Hermione, Lily’s head shot up to watch her uncle and aunt walking quickly out, they closed the door behind them and Lily was immediately curious. She was going to find out what was going on. She nudged her older brother who was still stuffing chips into his mouth, how can he be eating at a time like this? She gave him a meaningful look and he choked on his lunch. This gave her a few more seconds as the family was distracted, perfect, there was an Extendable Ear under the table. James recovered and excused himself from the table to go and get a drink of water. Lily waited long enough and then followed her brother, lunch was basically finished and it didn’t look suspicious that she would look for him because they were best friends as well as siblings. James started talking as soon as she entered. “So, what do you think is going on? Dad was acting kinda off his head”  
“I’m not sure..... They were talking, well arguing more, about that Dad was getting really thin and then they left.”  
“No kidding, he looks smaller than you now and you’re not exactly chubby. I’ve heard that people lose weight when they’re stressed, but he seems pretty chill to me, better than usual.”   
“James, I don’t think they’re telling us everything...... Mum said he was slipping away from her, we already know that he’s upset, the 2nd of May is coming up and that always sets both of them off. We’re not even allowed with them then it’s that bad and we see how Granny is on that day, Mum and Dad are 10 times worse.”  
“Yeah, we need to find a way to get down there now.”  
“Exactly.” Lily pulled out the Ear she had in her pocket. “Dad’s dying. We know that. I don’t know what we COULD do to help but we at least need to try, we might not see him again.”  
They walked across the landing and saw the family were beginning to break up and get on with their own activities, barely noticing that anything was wrong, Al was reading a book, Fred was playing with a spare snitch and ew, Teddy and Victoire were kissing again in the corner. James and Lily made faces at each-other before sneaking out of the back door, good thing their Granny wasn’t around. Before long they were threading the Extendable into the sitting room their parents were in and........ silence. They tried to shake the ear and still nothing. James muttered the counter charms to Silencio and Mufflatio and they tried again, this time they heard a slight noise as the Ear hit the ground, they’d done it!!!! But strangely there was still no noise. Lily fiddled with the ear for signal, “This can’t be right.......” as their grandfather walked towards them.


	14. Chapter 14

Their grandfather walked towards them. “James, Lily, come inside. We need to talk to you.” The kids trudged back into the house, this can’t be good. They were sat at the kitchen table with their brother and cousins, uncles and aunts, and Teddy, which James and Lily never knew what to call him, he was kind of a brother, cousin and uncle to them. Their Granny and Grandad were standing up clearly where everyone could see and their faces were lined with worry, unusually somber. “We just talked to Ron, he told us Harry collapsed and fell unconscious earlier and no one seems to be able to wake him. McGonagall and Pomfrey arrived from Hogwarts to help but all we can do is wait.” Their grandmother stood there as their grandfather talked and then hurriedly started to offer people tea and hot chocolate, clearly not knowing what to do and trying to keep busy. Their grandfather called the three Potter children over. “Your uncle told us that your mother didn’t mind if you all wanted to go in and sit with them for a while, but be prepared, your dad isn’t moving and he looks quite ill, it may come as a shock.” They nodded at him solemnly and made their way through the door.   
“Hi mum.” Albus said quietly as they sat down on a spare sofa, their mother was kneeling on the floor beside their father who looked like a broken ragdoll on top of the mattress. Lily had never seen a dead body but if she didn’t know better, her dad looked like one. She was scared by the silence in the room the most, it seemed tense and she didn’t know why nobody made useless conversation to pass the time, not even Uncle Ron and that was his area of expertise. She felt awkward in front of her school’s headmistress and nurse, like she was intruding on something private, she had never seen them look so worried, McGonagall looked elderly, well Lily supposed she must be in her 80s but usually the headmistress didn’t look that old. Madam Pomfrey looked very stressed and this surprised Lily, usually the school nurse was calm and knew exactly what to do. This was clearly not the case today but if she knew what to do her father would be better already. Her mother wasn’t speaking to anyone, she focused all of her attention on her husband quietly willing him to wake up. Madam Pomfrey casted many spells but either they weren’t successful or whatever she was doing couldn’t be seen. Eventually the Headmistress left as she had some urgent business to attend to over the holiday and a few minutes later Ron persuaded the children to leave with him as dinner was almost ready and there was nothing they could do for their father.  
The next few days at the Burrow were quiet, Uncle George left on Easter Monday with his family to reopen the shop for Hogwarts kids on break, Uncle Charlie left later that day to return to Romania, and Teddy took Victoire back to his place for a day or two for some alone time with no siblings or cousins. This left the five Potters and four Weasley-Grangers staying. The five children spent most of their time together playing exploding snap and chess, there wasn’t much opportunity or desire to leave the house as Harry was still unconscious and everyone was worried. The five were sitting round the table with their grandmother, munching on sandwiches while they took turns playing chess.   
“Granny, why is it that we’re not allowed to swim in the big lake at Hogwarts? Whenever we go back in the summer term it’s always so hot and the lake looks so fun but McGonagall’s so strict about it, could you swim there in your day?” Lily asked absentmindedly, she loved to swim at home in the summer, especially in the sea near her Uncle Bill’s house, it was her favorite part about getting off school.   
“Actually Lily, your father was probably the last to set foot in the Black Lake, along with your Aunt Fleur, and also two other boys, Cedric Diggory I’m sure you’ve heard of and another called Krum.”  
Suddenly James whipped his head around to face them. “Viktor Krum??? The Bulgarian Quidditch legend????”  
“Yes, Viktor, that was his name.... Nice man but a bit strange, your father and Aunt Hermione kept in touch with him, they seemed to get along well enough.”  
“AUNT HERMIONE? What’s she got to do with Quidditch?” James shouted, Hugo and Albus who were sitting close by covered their ears, he was always extremely loud when talking.   
“Never mind that James, I asked about swimming, why were they all in the lake?”  
Their grandmother paused for a second before she spoke. “Your father would like you to know all these stories but there are some he just can’t face retelling. Have any of you heard of the Triwizard Tournament?”  
Rose jumped in, the same way her mother would when asked a question. “I’ve read about that somewhere, it’s apparently a competition between 3 schools including Hogwarts, but I always assumed it was made up since it never happens and it sounds too dangerous to be true.”   
Their grandmother nodded. “Sadly it is real, but the last time it happened, one of the four competitors was murdered. Cedric Diggory.” She glanced at Albus who’s middle name was Cedric after the boy. The children looked shocked with wide eyes. Lily looked confused, “I thought he was killed by Peter Pettigrew” James snarled as she said the name, “On the night Voldemort returned?” she finished.  
“Yes, the reason your father was involved at all in this contest, he didn’t choose or want to be, unlike the others, was because a Death Eater submitted his name in order to make a Portkey for the winner, he rigged it for Harry to win, so that Voldemort could kidnap Harry and take his blood to give himself a body again. Harry didn’t want to win and drew with Cedric, who was murdered on the spot and Harry was meant to be killed as well but for the fourth time, he won and escaped. Lily, to answer your question before, the lake was the second task in this awful contest so I excpect your Headmistress just has too many bad memories surrounding it and feels it’s unsafe for students.”  
Lily was shocked, she’d known how Cedric Diggory had died but she had never once heard about this contest thing. Albus was the same age as her father was when this all happened and Lily could never imagine her brother being forced to play in this contest against his will and almost dying in it.  
Albus spoke for the first time, “Wow, Dad’s life was seriously messed up, was there no teachers who could have stopped it? It’s kind of their responsibility to keep students safe if he was only a teenager, we’re not allowed to do anything important until we’re of age.”  
Their grandmother shook her head. “That’s the way the world was for him, his life was controlled by Voldemort who had no feeling for anything, he didn’t have a heart to care what age anyone was, he wanted Harry destroyed, the earlier the better. Once the war had started properly, everyone was in danger but none more than him, it was an awful time, especially the night Harry came back holding Cedric’s body.” She shuddered, as if picturing this awful scene and looked like she was about to cry. “This is why your father is like what he is now, the terrible memories of the war are getting to him, we don’t even know some of the horrors he faced. I don’t mean to scare all of you but he’d want you to remember all the people we lost then. I’m so proud of all of you, you have grown up so quickly into understanding and empathetic people, it must be hard when the people who are supposed to care for you have difficulty adjusting to normal life themselves. You weren’t born into a normal family, you never will be normal, but all of your parents are some of our world’s kindest and bravest people and they definitely love you more than anything.”


	15. Chapter 15

Suddenly an owl flew through the kitchen window and Kreacher rushed to collect the letter. “It’s for Master Harry.” Kreacher announced to the room and appeared to dither as though wondering what to do with it since he knew his master couldn’t open it. “Kreacher dear, why don’t you go in there and deliver it to Ginny? It may be important to help him.”  
“Thank you, Kreacher will.” Kreacher looked happy, he never liked being separated from Harry but he tried not to show it and carried on doing chores for everyone else, always eager to have something to do.  
-  
Ginny had been sitting in the same place for two days, no matter how much her family tried to convince her to move and let them stay with Harry, she always wanted to be with him. She had spent the majority of the past days talking with Poppy who was still experimenting with spells to wake him and Hermione, who read book after book researching dark magic. Ginny had tried to read too but she kept getting distracted. Ron came in and out occasionally, he went to work to help George with the rush of Hogwarts students because he couldn’t deal with the sitting and waiting with no end, at one point he had gotten so desperate he kicked Harry, he immediately felt awful and hadn’t been in the room since. Harry went through periods of being completely still and periods of uncontrollable movement, Ginny didn’t know which was worse but she could see by Harry’s expression that he was in terrible pain. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. “Mistress Ginny? May Kreacher come in?”  
“Of course Kreacher, you know you’re always welcome to sit with him. What’s that you’re holding?”  
“Kreacher got it from an owl who came in looking for Master Harry, Kreacher did not open it but Mistress Weasley told Kreacher he could bring it here.”  
Ginny studied the letter. The envelope simply said Harry, and she couldn’t quite place the handwriting but she knew she’d seen it before, maybe a friend of theirs? She didn’t want to open it but she knew she had to, in case it was important and she knew Harry wouldn’t care. Poppy and Hermione both watched her, allowing Ginny to make the decision herself and she tore open the letter.

Harry,  
I was surprised to receive your letter, most people start at the age of eighteen and have quit by the age you are now, but I’m going to trust my instincts, you have always been, and still are, the best seeker I have ever seen. I’d like to invite you to try out next week or else we can work out another time that suits but hopefully as soon as possible because I need a new seeker and I know that you are the best for the job.  
Thanks,   
Oliver Wood  
Puddlemere United Manager.

Ginny stared at the letter in surprise and laughed out loud with excitement.   
“Ginny, is it about Harry, what is it???” Hermione asked immediately. Ginny leaned over to Harry and quietly whispered “I know you can’t hear me right now, but Wood wants you as his seeker again, if you could hear me you’d be freaking out as much as me.”  
She turned back to the two women who were waiting expectantly. “Harry wrote a letter to Oliver Wood a few weeks ago, asking if there were any teams looking a Seeker. Puddlemere wants him.”  
“Puddlemere? Ginny that’s amazing!!! Almost always top of the league, that’s incredible.”   
“Hermione, how do you know that? You didn’t even know a thing about Quidditch when you were dating one of the best professional players in the world!!!”  
“James” she confessed “It’s hard to not hear him go on about them all the time, imagine when he finds out about his dad. Viktor’ll be pleased too, he always said that Harry should play for real and that Harry was ten times as good as him.”  
Another day passed and they had agreed that Harry’s letter should be kept a secret from the others, Harry should be able to tell them himself. This was the fourth day since Harry had gone unconscious and Ginny was getting more worried every minute. They sent for a healer from St Mungos to see if they would know anything new that might help and they got the head Healer from Spell Damage. The Healer couldn’t do much, Hermione had tried to explain her research into the Horcrux connection and they were completely stumped, never having come across this branch of Dark Magic or a patient who was unresponsive for so long.   
“Hermione, you should become a healer, you certainly know a lot more magical theory than that guy.” Ginny sighed, it had been a long hour of talking to the Healer who had less of an idea than they did to start off with. The one change was that when Harry yelled in his sleep, they heard coherent words occasionally, he had spent the last few minutes saying something about Sirius. Ginny wanted so badly to help him, tears were streaming down his face as he slept and she couldn’t stand another minute of him feeling like this. Poppy Pomfrey was still there, doing whatever she could to ease Harry’s suffering, she was working closely at Hermione who was incredible at magical theory and Ginny was so thankful to have wonderful people in their lives who were both selfless and very talented. Minerva came whenever she could, she was one of the best at Transfiguration that Hogwarts had ever seen. Ginny was very good at Defense but she knew Harry extremely well which helped. The four of them eventually came up with a spell that could possibly wake Harry up, but it still needed a bit of work before they tried to use it. It blended many kinds of magic together and was almost uniquely designed for this specific case. It took the power of Ginny’s emotional connection to Harry and used it as kind of a healing patronus to work against the traces of the connection to Voldemort. Hermione sat down with Ginny for a while and they talked. “Muggles have a word for this...... whatever this state is that Harry’s in. Not so much the screaming part but the parts that he is lying still they would call a coma. They just have to blindly wait there and hope the person wakes up and a lot of the time they never do. While I was out yesterday I was testing a spell to see if we could use it as part of the spell to wake Harry and I revived a muggle from a coma to test if it worked to revive someone from a normal illness. Of course they didn’t know what had happened, I made sure the family just assumed it was a miracle, but it worked, I wish fixing Harry was this easy.”   
“Yeah I know what you mean, I don’t want to try anything powerful and do more damage without knowing if we are perfectly right. We’re just going to have to hope because we can’t just stand there and do nothing, I mean look at him.” For the first time, Ginny broke down in tears. Hermione hugged her as she cried. “Ginny, I would tell you that everything will be fine but that would probably just make things worse. Ginny I promise you we will wake him up.”


	16. Chapter 16

A few hours later they decided it was time to try the spell that might wake Harry up, it was very dangerous to cast a spell for the first time without testing but they had to. Ginny was focused and ready as she casted the spell.  
Harry suddenly woke up, he couldn’t tell where he was, some kind of room he could barely see without his glasses, and he threw up. Someone gently stuffed the end of a Puking Pastille in his mouth which stopped it and Harry sank back onto the mattress, those small actions had taken up all of his energy. His head was spinning and he could barely breathe, his chest felt very heavy but none of that mattered, all he could think about was Sirius.   
“Shhhh Harry can you hear me? It’s okay, you’re safe, you killed Voldemort, Bellatrix is dead...... She killed Sirius twenty five years ago I’m sorry.” Ginny gently placed Harry’s glasses on his face and Harry tried to sit up but found it too painful so Ginny lay down to face him. “Gin, you know you don’t have to, I’ll be fine just give me a couple of minutes...”  
“Harry...... what day do you think it is?”  
“Um Sunday? It’s Easter Sunday.”  
“Not exactly, you’ve been.... asleep since Sunday. It’s Tuesday.”  
“No wonder the dreams lasted so long, I couldn’t get away from them, I saw Sirius. Dying. I don’t remember much else.” Harry suddenly flinched violently as if he could feel the memory. Poppy approached him gently and made him take a Calming Draught which he did not turn down for a change, he didn’t seem to have the strength to resist, he hated people treating him like this normally but he was so exhausted he didn’t care. Pomfrey checked him and gave him a lot of potions, mostly for weight gain and healing. The weight gain potions made him throw up again, doing the opposite of what they were meant to, but that was the least of his worries. He hated feeling vulnerable, the connection was haunting him for longer and could overcome him even when he was alert instead of just in his sleep. Finally Poppy left the next day for Hogwarts but Harry was still confined to bed rest much to his annoyance. Ginny made him obey the instructions but made it an awful lot easier by keeping him company.   
“Harry, do you remember anything I said to you while you were unconscious? Could you hear me?”  
“All I remember is the visions and dreams. Why, was it important?”  
Ginny handed him the slightly crumpled letter she had opened days before and Harry stared at her incredulously when he’d finished reading it.   
“I only told Pomfrey and Hermione, I figured you’d want to share the news”  
“It’s only a trial though, there’s no guarantee I’m in, but this is great as long as I can fly by then.......”  
Soon it was the day that the kids went back to Hogwarts and Harry was disappointed, he’d enjoyed their company over the Easter break as it was a week since he fell unconscious and they proved to be a great distraction to his recovery. He’d been restricted to bed rest technically by Poppy but his family took pity on him occasionally and helped him to move round the house, provided he didn’t do anything risky. They’d stayed at the Burrow because Harry needed to be watched round the clock for three weeks to made sure that if he collapsed he couldn’t accidentally injure himself. Harry hated this more than anything, but he much preferred when Ginny, Ron, or one of the kids was with him. He supposed that Hermione hadn’t been too bad, but Molly was too overbearing and wouldn’t let him take what she called “risks” and Harry felt were challenges. No matter who he was with though, Quidditch was off the table until he’d been cleared, so he spent lots of his time coaching the kids from the ground as both his three and the two Granger Weasleys loved getting help from their Quidditch obsessed family but there was very little time usually. Harry now had a load of free time and also observing Quidditch was good practice for his own tryout for Puddlemere that had been out off until he could play, much to Harry’s frustration. Harry often played Quidditch with his children and nieces and nephews when they were home from Hogwarts and were absolutely spoilt when it comes to home training, they always had great brooms and top of the line quaffles, bludgers and snitches to practice on as well as many experienced players who adored them. In the family alone, Harry, Ginny and Charlie were all exceptional players and everyone else was very good too, but they also had many other connections to players who loved to teach them, such as Victor Krum and Oliver Wood, both ex professionals. Harry has dreaded today for days, the first day that he couldn’t occupy himself by at least watching Quidditch be played. Ginny had gone to work and this morning it was Hermione with him, Molly and Arthur had taken the job of bringing the children back to school. Hermione helped Harry from the bed to sit on the sofa much to his distaste, he hated being babysat but he still found moving difficult, not that he didn’t try. Hermione had a lot of freedom in her job to study whatever she felt was necessary so she was often able to work from home. Harry was still often sent things from the Ministry, he wasn’t a full auror or Head of the DMLE anymore, but his successor wasn’t as experienced, and the whole department was desperate for his point of view when it came to important matters, particularly documents regarding the few Death Eaters who weren’t imprisoned all those years ago but were still watched by the Ministry, such as Draco Malfoy. Luckily no Ministry owls arrived this morning, one of the few perks to the day. After Hermione made sure that Harry was comfortable, she sat down beside him.   
“Harry..... I wanted to tell you something I was reminded of recently. It’s not very important but it puts feelings into words. Muggles...... they have a word for something you have, something you feel every day, well not just you. Me, Ron, Ginny, everyone who fought suffers from this. It’s called post traumatic stress disorder and it happens when someone has been through a really traumatic situation and get flashbacks of it.”  
“Muggles are really much smarter than us. Like we’ve got the whole magic thing that they don’t, but they know emotions, they learn things that wizards just ignore. I’ve never heard of that word before. So what do they do to fix it?”  
“Talk to people.” Hermione replied simply. “They usually go to counseling about it”  
“They go to what?”  
“Counseling Harry, I thought you lived in the muggle world for ten years and in the summer until you left school” Hermione said with a laugh.  
“Yeah well.... didn’t get out much.” Harry muttered. He suddenly became much more reserved and started to avoid Hermione’s questions, trying to change the subject. Suddenly it hit Hermione why.


	17. Chapter 17

James watched as his friends crowded round his brand new broomstick, desperate to even touch it. “I’ve heard that they hand make these broomsticks whenever someone orders them, custom for each person because they’re so expensive and made for whatever school’s pitch you’re playing on.”  
“Yeah they do, Dad ordered them for us and Rose and Hugo and they took a month to make”  
“So James, how was your holiday?” His best friend asked excitedly. Everyone always wanted to know what his family got up to, they would happily have listened to his mum’s shopping list.  
“Um.... It was good at the start when we got our brooms and had the family Quidditch game we hold every school holiday. But Dad........ on Easter Sunday his flashbacks were really bad and he was unconscious until Tuesday. I’ve never seen McGonagall so worried she’s usually really calm.”  
“McGonagall? Were you at Hogwarts??? I stayed over the holiday I wish I’d seen you.”  
“No she was at our grandparents house.” The group looked surprised. “She’s been to your house?”  
“Well yeah obviously, she’s known my parents since they were at school and after the war they got really close. McGonagall was in the Order Of The Phoenix.” The Order was widely known to be the main resistance group against Voldemort but many people had lost track of who did what, there were so many now famous people who had contributed to the war effort. The group gasped slightly at the mention that their Headmistress was part of this well known organization.  
“Anyway she looked awful, I even saw her HAIR out of place once so it must have been bad. She couldn’t seem to do anything, and then no one could wake him up and it was really scary. For most of the time he looked like he was dead but occasionally he would shake and yell about people dying who were killed a long time ago. Mum stayed there for days she refused to leave him at all. Lil and I noticed something was going on and we tried to eavesdrop but Grandad found us and told us what happened.” All of James’s friends had enough practice pranking in their six years at Hogwarts to know that it was never good when adults told you what you were sneaking to find out yourself.   
-  
Hermione knocked on the door of a very nondescript house in Surrey. She was dressed in extremely Muggle like clothes and her wand was stowed away in her bag, she didn’t know what would happen here but she knew she wouldn’t need it in her hand for self defense, it wasn’t dangerous to be around these people. A heavily built man with dark blonde hair answered the door, he looked very middle aged compared to his cousin who looked quite young for 40 and Hermione could not see the resemblance in any way. The man smiled politely but did not recognize her, Hermione had seen him briefly at Kings Cross as a teenager but had never paid attention as he wasn’t important, she had always been preoccupied with saying goodbye to her best friends.  
“Hello, my name is Hermione Granger, are you Dudley Dursley?”  
The man nodded in surprise but had no reaction to her name, Hermione thought that probably over the years he’d forgotten the names of his cousin’s best friends. “Are you the cousin of Harry Potter?”  
Dudley’s face changed, he looked completely shocked, clearly that was the last thing he was expecting her to say. “Yes. I haven’t heard that name in a long time.......”  
“I’d like to speak with you if that was possible, it may take a while so I can come back at a more appropriate time if you need.”  
“No, no, now is fine, come on in. Excuse me but are you.......” He seemed hesitant, as though he was afraid in case Hermione wasn’t, and he was going to embarrass himself. “A wizard?”  
Hermione tried not to giggle, she wasn’t a teenager anymore, it was a simple honest mistake and he doesn’t know. “Well actually I’m a female, so I’m a witch, but yes. I’m from the wizarding world just like Harry.”  
“I don’t know what brings you here but would my wife be able to be involved as well? I don’t like to keep secrets from her.”  
“Yes of course.” Dudley directed Hermione to a chair in the living room and left to find his wife. He clearly trusted Hermione enough to leave her alone in a room in his house, despite all the experiences he’d had with magic and none of them had a good outcome.  
Dudley returned with a woman who looked like an average muggle and they both sat down.  
“Before I begin, Mrs Dursley, what exactly do you know about your husband’s cousin Harry?”   
“Dudley told me that he lived with them until he went off to a boarding school his parents had attended and he came back every summer until he was 17. He also told me that he had some sort of special ability that got him caught up in a war somewhere else because a group of criminals wanted him dead. Dud was quite vague on the details but insisted that he was a good man and hadn’t done anything illegal but it meant that Dudley and his parents had to go into hiding close to the end of it.” Hermione thought that Dudley must have reminded her before they came downstairs who Harry was, but she could tell she was being truthful.  
“Yes. He is a wizard and I’m a witch, we went to school together and he is my best friend. The reason I am coming to you Dudley is because there are some parts of Harry’s life that he won’t talk about, he refuses to mention at all and it is essential that we know these things in order to help him because he is..... well it’s kind of like he’s sick. That’s probably what you’d call it. The dark magic that he has been subjected to over the years has really damaged him and so that we can help him, we need to know everything we can about his life. You’re not the only person who I will be speaking to, but you and Arabella Figg your childhood neighbor are the only ones who I can ask about his life between the ages of one and eleven. Are you willing to tell me?”  
“Yes.” Dudley replied immediately. “I need to face what I did and I can’t hide from it.   
I didn’t realize until I was fifteen when those........ dementors, attacked us, what me and my parents did. Even then it took me five years to really grasp it. After I left school me and my dad sort of drifted apart, I didn’t want to be associated with an abuser. He’s in a nursing home now and my mum died a few years back, I was still quite close with her and she seemed to show some remorse. They neglected him.... Harry. I was just a child when it started and I justified myself by thinking he wasn’t supposed to be in our home and it seemed fair to me because they were my parents and it had always been this way. When the dementors came I saw what really happened, I saw a vulnerable scared child locked in a cupboard for a week because his older cousin had tattled on him. I saw myself the big fat teenager who needed to diet stealing food off a boy that was so skinny it was inhumane to put him on a diet. I saw him bruised because his aunt smacked him with a frying pan because he asked too many questions. I was a spoiled brat, I always got what I wanted and the boy who’s parents died got nothing. Whenever I was three and I wouldn’t eat in a tantrum my mum got me whatever food I preferred and then played with me until I laughed. When that was Harry.....his cot was moved to the cupboard and they locked him in there because he was crying. Eventually when he was five they took the bars round the side of it off. They gave me my first grown up bed and told Harry that his bedroom was too small for a proper bed to fit. He stayed in that cot until those letters came for him that sent him off to magic school.” Dudley shook, as if shivering at the memory of the dementors. His wife held his hand and she looked slightly shocked as she heard all of this.  
“Will you press charges on my dad for what he did to him?”  
Hermione shook her head. “There’s only recently been an abusive relatives system set up in the Wizengamot and it was so long ago and it’s no longer occurring it would be a difficult process that would probably just put more strain on Harry. I have to say that I’m shocked, he often said that your house was never his home and his relatives were not very good to him but I never imagined...... Is there any more?”  
“On his twelfth birthday they put bars on his window, never let him out and hardly ever fed him because he did some sort of magic in the house. I don’t remember much because I was selfish and horrible and only focused on how bad the quality of my bedroom TV was that I barely noticed him. My mum and dad hated him and after that barely did anything about him during the summers but they would always be furious when he escaped. I think they thought that they could force the magic out of him if he didn’t learn it. What happened to Harry? The Phoenix Order people told us that he defeated what’s his name, well whatever the bad guy was called but we never saw him again.”  
“He came to live at the Weasley’s for a while, our best friends and when his girlfriend Ginny Weasley left school he got a house with her and married her. They had three children who are now at Hogwarts.”  
“I didn’t even know if he was still alive, I always wondered what happened to him but I had no one who would have told me. I can’t express enough how sorry I am for what I did and my parents did. When I grew up I came across various things about abuse and I suddenly put the dots together and realized that it was really that severe. I used to punch him until he passed out if I ever caught him and my parents never stopped me so I kept on doing it and I let them neglect him.....”  
“Dudley, it’s not your fault. Your parents spoiled you and although you did some bad things in the past Harry doesn’t blame you. I didn’t come here to hold you accountable, all I needed was information that might help us.”


	18. Chapter 18

James walked into Charms class, it was the second last period of the day and all classes were cancelled the next day since it was the 2nd of May, there was never any classes on that day. James would be going home with his siblings and Albus and Rose like they always did, McGonagall had a rule that pupils could leave on that day if they had a valid reason, but the amount of pupils who left had greatly decreased over the years. Some less understanding pupils, when they came to Hogwarts had questioned their parents why people like Teddy Lupin got a day off that they themselves were still in school for but other students quickly taught them better than to question that. In the first few years after the battle some left the school on that day because they had fought or been caught up in the horrible events themselves but all these students had now left, as had the ones who had known family who had died. In Teddy’s time there was even less who left like he did, but still some had lost parents or much older siblings. James and his siblings and cousins came home because their families preferred them to be at home for it and also to stop the mad rush of questions from friends and others in the school. Rose and Hugo went home to their parents who usually took them to Fred’s grave for a private memorial but the Potter children went with their Granny and Grandad. They rarely saw their parents, their mother preferred to keep herself busy and no one had any idea where their father went. They suspected it was never the same place and that he was alone, but no one in the family knew for sure where he was or what he did and he never told them.   
James was very early to Charms by accident, he was usually fashionably late but today he found himself absentmindedly walking as soon as the bell rang. He was about to go in but he saw Professor Martens at her desk staring at her ring. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that Professor Martens always wore an engagement ring that her fiancé had given her but she had never been able to marry him as he was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts fighting against his Death Eater parents. Barnaby Lee’s name was written on the memorial in the Great Hall and students would often see her gazing at his name at mealtimes. Finally the rest of the class arrived to Charms and James hesitantly walked in, he did not want to, he had too much experience of adults having that glazed over look, especially at this time of year. Professor Martens seemed slightly forgetful and jumpy which was unusual for her and James warned his friends to stop when they started to make fun of her reactions. Finally she set them to practice the duplicating charm, Geminio, which was one of the few sixth year spells that wasn’t especially dangerous to try. They were all given a bowl to practice on. James was normally quite good at Charms but he had a tendency to mess up if he was distracted and today was one of those days. “Ow!!” as his hand smoked slightly, there was a bright red burn on his hand from where he had waved his wand wildly. The burn started to blister. Professor Martens sighed as she noticed him.   
“Class is dismissed so I can take Mr Potter up to the Hospital Wing.”  
The class filed out, one boy slapped him on the back on the way, “Nice one James!!!”. When everyone was gone Professor Martens escorted James out.   
“James..... I understand why you’re distracted today. My fiancé Barnaby died that night too, he was fighting for our freedom along with your family. I know he’d want me to have fun in life even if he wasn’t around but sometimes it just gets harder than others. I know it must be hard for you at home dealing with your parents in their situation and I hope it gets easier soon.”  
“Thanks. I’m sorry about your fiancé Professor Martens.”  
He arrived at the hospital wing which was empty apart from Madam Pomfrey. “Hello James, what happened this time?”  
James held out his burned hand in response and Madam Pomfrey looked at it and sighed.   
“How did you do this one?”  
“Well for once I WASN’T messing around but I kind of lost focus and was thinking about...... other things...... in Charms and next thing I knew my hand was smoking.”  
“Rub this paste on it, the wound should heal in the next 15 minutes but I think the real problem is why you got so distracted that you accidentally injured yourself.”  
She gestured for him to sit at a white table near her office and pulled another seat over for herself.  
“Has this got anything to do with the day today?” She asked him gently, “And your father?” James nodded.  
“I was just sort of worried you know, like he always disappears and no one knows what happens to him and then he’s worse with the flashbacks this year than before......”  
Madam Pomfrey watched him sadly as he spoke. “I have to ask you James, please, don’t repeat any of this to your father, you can tell your mum or your granny or anyone else and I think that would be a very good idea, but if your dad hears that anything he is going through is affecting his children...... well I don’t know what would happen but it could end very badly, he cares about what he does to everyone else much more than himself. By all means confide in him about your feelings about the relatives you never got to meet, or anything else that happened in the war but I would strongly advise you to avoid telling him how worried you are about his... flashbacks and especially the reason for your injury. I know I can’t tell you what to do and I am not your mother, but she and your grandmother will be telling you the same thing.”  
“Madam Pomfrey... is he going to be all right?”  
She paused for a while before speaking. “I wish I could tell you yes..... but your family won’t sugarcoat this so I won’t do that to you either. In all honesty James I don’t know.” James stayed silent and felt worried, normally people like Madam Pomfrey could just fix everything and he suddenly realized he was growing up, he was sixteen and suddenly he was seeing that people didn’t have all of the answers to problems, some things couldn’t be mended.  
“I think it would be best if you went home, well not home but to your grandparents, a little early today, I can send you there by Floo right now and your siblings will arrive in a few hours.”  
James shook his head violently and looked shocked.   
“I can’t, Quidditch practice is tonight!!!!”  
“Why Quidditch is allowed today when the school is in this state I’ll never know. If you’re sure, I will permit you to go, you are exactly like your father, both of you will be on your deathbed and get back up again for practice....” She checked her watch. “Dinner starts in half an hour, you can stay up here until then as I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to go back to class, and then Professor McGonagall will see you three in her office at 10pm.”   
-  
“JAMES!!!!! KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BLUDGER, what if this had been a game and there was an opponent there????”  
James swerved back and could have kicked himself for missing the bludger. Lily glanced up at him and they traded a look which let her know why he was distracted. Their captain, a 7th year boy, was nice but often shouted when he got really into the game. The practice lasted another hour and at 9pm they finally finished. James and his sister headed back and immediately the team captain rushed towards them before they left.  
“Listen James I’m sorry I yelled, I can’t believe I got angry at you for not concentrating today...... the other beater just reminded me what day it was I’m honestly so sorry and Lily you too, good luck tomorrow wherever you’re going.”  
“No it’s my fault, I really should have been thinking. I’ll do better next practice and we are not losing that cup.”   
“Well if you see your dad tell him that we are all so thankful for what he did on that day.” He raised his wand slightly in a mark of respect and James nodded and Lily thanked him quietly. Hogwarts students had grown up in a world where the 2nd of May was treated very solemnly, shops closed, classes stopped, all that there was to do was go to memorials or gravestones or stay at home or school. James and Lily’s father was the most highly respected wizard in the country, if not the world, and although no one ever saw him on that day, people tried their hardest to pass their thanks and condolences onto him. Albus Dumbledore, the legendary war hero who died defeating Voldemort, who defeated Grindelwald and made many discoveries and founded the Order of the Phoenix was seen as nothing compared to Harry Potter. The Wizarding world came to a complete standstill on the 2nd of May, no one quite knew what to do apart from mourn the lives that were lost in the war and people counted themselves lucky to be alive.  
The Potter children arrived at Professor McGonagall’s office at five minutes to ten, the night before the worst day of the year. Their grandmother met them there and as soon as she saw them she embraced them in a hug and she tried to smile but her face looked sad and worn. McGonagall herself looked tired and her eyes were red as if she’d been crying. Their grandmother spoke.  
“Come on you three, we’ll walk to the gates and floo from Hogsmeade, I’d like some fresh air. Thank you Minerva for getting them and good luck for tomorrow. We all need it to get through the day.”  
With that the family left McGonagall’s office down the winding staircase and strolled quietly through the grounds which were lit by moonlight.  
“Your dad is still staying with us at the house, he can’t travel home yet but according to your mum he refused to leave the room today, poor dear. You might see your mum tonight, I think she was staying up until you arrived. Kreacher is cooking soup, I think he needed something to keep him occupied, he usually goes to bed earlier than this.”  
When they reached the grounds of the Burrow, they saw their mother outside looking exhausted but happy to see them. Inside they sat at the large kitchen table while Kreacher served steaming bowls of tomato soup, his locket round his neck as always. Their mother collapsed into a seat at the table and she refused Kreacher’s offer of food, staring at an old photograph. It had most of the Weasley family in it including Uncle George’s identical twin Fred, along with Hagrid and who they knew to be Remus Lupin and Tonks, Teddy’s parents. Their dad was smiling in the photograph which was unusual, but appeared embarrassed when their grandmother set a large snitch shaped cake in front of him, it must have been his birthday. Most of the family looked remarkably different but apart from the rare smile, their father looked almost the same. Their mum began to tell them a story of a happy day, before everything went wrong, and their granny finished it when it got too much for their mum to think about.   
th


	19. Chapter 19

Lily, James and Albus wanted to be together that night, the other two had sneaked down to Albus’s room after saying goodnight to their mum, careful not to disturb anyone, not that a single person in the house would be able to sleep. Luckily every bed in the house was quite big so the three siblings could comfortably fit in the same bed rather than searching the house for sleeping bags.   
-  
Ginny finally returned to her room a few minutes after she sent the three kids to bed. Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her.  
“I saw the kids, we gave them something to eat and everyone went to bed afterwards. How was your day?”  
“Awful.”  
“Well obviously these few days will be pretty bad. They’ll never get better but you have to make the rest of the year good.”   
Suddenly Harry went into a rage. He grabbed a small bedside table and threw it at the wall and the wood broke apart. “ITS ALL MY FAULT. I should have gone earlier, as soon as the diadem was destroyed I should have just let him kill me rather than waiting for that impossible snake. It was because of me that Remus and Tonks died, I could have saved them, they should have survived not me why does Teddy not hate me more? He should want nothing to do with me, I took his parents away. And Fred....... why doesn’t George want to punch me until I can’t move? Why did he welcome me into his family, not object when I married his sister, so I could ruin your life too? Why does Dennis Creevey not rip me limb from limb for taking away his brother? He hates me but hate isn’t enough for everything I did.” Harry grabbed a glass vase from on top of the chest of drawers and it smashed to pieces when it hit the ground. Water spilled everywhere and flowers lay scattered in the wreckage. The ink on the card attached ran and smudged as it touched the water. It said:  
“Dear Mr Potter,  
Thank you for what you did on this day, you’re always in our thoughts and prayers.”  
The rest of the note and the name were already washed off. Ginny picked it up and set it gently on the other table that was still intact but she knew Harry didn’t care. She watched him as silent tears slipped down his face.  
“Why does anyone care about me? Why do they like me, respect, even love? Why do you not want to leave me? I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE.”  
“Harry, it isn’t your fault. I know you need told this every day and I’ll tell you it until you believe it. You couldn’t have done anything more please listen to me, there is nothing else you could have done. It was their choice to fight, no one else’s and especially not yours.”  
“ALL I EVER WANTED WAS A NORMAL LIFE, I CAN’T EVEN GET AWAY FROM VOLDEMORT WHEN HE’S DEAD.”  
Ginny quietly cast a disarming charm, she was worried Harry could do himself serious damage, disarmed at least anything broken could be fixed. She stayed close to him but allowed him to continue his fit of anger. “I WANT IT TO BE OVER ALREADY. I WANT TO DIE.” Harry smashed the window in frustration and slammed his hand into the shards of glass left behind. They pierced his skin in many places and blood trickled down, his hand was completely scarlet and the scars on his hand from Umbridge were completely obscured by the blood that was starting to stain the white carpet. “I know.” Somehow Ginny’s quiet words had the ability to calm him down at his worst. He almost lost his balance, bent over and barely able to stand since he was still technically supposed to be on bed rest after his magic induced flashbacks at Easter, he was two days away from the three week mark. His head was spinning and he had no energy left and could barely breathe. Ginny helped him to sit and healed his hand before he would object. “Why do you not just leave? Take the kids with you and live your life happily without me, you don’t deserve any of this, no one should have to deal with me.”  
“Harry..... I love you. I thought you knew that after Dumbledore died and I had to drag you away from his body. Or after Hogwarts when you refused to talk to anyone for weeks, you just locked yourself away and I had to bring you back to us. I’m never leaving.”  
-  
The next morning Ginny came downstairs in a rush and her mum was already cooking and it was 6am.   
“He’s gone.”  
Her mother sighed. “Of course he is, that’s what I was afraid of.”  
“He got really angry last night. Destroyed half the room and he said......” She didn’t want to finish and she didn’t have to.  
“I heard, I think everyone did dear. I knew that you were the only person who could help him when he got like that.... You’re a perfect fit with him, you have a way of calming him down that even Ron and Hermione couldn’t come close to.”  
“Do you think the kids heard us last night?”  
“Yes. I highly doubt they had any more sleep than we did, they know what day it is and what it means, they’re not five anymore sadly. I’ll take care of them, I need something to keep myself occupied, we may as well get started on Victoire’s cake but I doubt she’d come over to eat it. The poor girl, I feel terrible that her birthday falls on the one day no one feels up to celebrating.”  
“I’m going to find Harry..... if he wants to be, if he doesn’t then I just have to hope he comes back at the end of the day. 20 years of marriage and I wish I could understand him.”


	20. Chapter 20

The three children came downstairs together at 7am, they agreed together that this was a decent time, not too early and they'd left it as long as they could, it had been a very long night. James yawned loudly as he walked down the stairs and fell into his sister as he had a habit of closing his eyes while he yawned, which often led to him tripping. Luckily Albus caught him before he toppled down the stairs and all three regained their balance. They went into the kitchen where they smelled a mountain of food, clearly their grandmother hadn't been able to stay upstairs for long. She was wearing simple black dress robes with matching shoes and a hat that looked as if it had once been expensive and good looking but now worn with age, it was unusual for her to dress up, particularly when there was no plans to leave the house. When she saw James, Albus and Lily at the door she rushed to embrace them in a hug and she looked grateful that they were there. "Help yourselves, I made fried breakfast, porridge, pancakes and cereal, whatever you feel like."  
James and Albus rushed towards the groaning table, grateful for something to do, but Lily hung back.  
"Granny, what happened last night? We heard Dad yelling and something smashed and it all stopped. We weren't trying to eavesdrop but it was difficult not to hear them and we couldn't sleep at all."  
"He just got a bit upset, that's all, your mother was with him the whole time and made sure he was all right. She went after him this morning, I saw her before she left."  
Lily gave her grandmother another hug and went to sit beside her siblings. She hated this day, everyone did and it always dragged on for what felt like a week, they did more activities than on a normal day but really they were just going through the motions to keep busy. It had always been like this as long as they could remember, they never saw their dad and very rarely saw their mum. It became a tradition for them to spend the day with their granny who needed the company. The three children always knew that their family life was different, even from their cousins who's parents were also deeply affected by the war. Lily wouldn't trade her parents for anything but she did know that she didn't have the "normal" childhood that Rose and Hugo did. The Weasley-Grangers had grown up with a lot more rules, mostly due to Aunt Hermione being their mother. They had attended a Muggle primary school from four to eleven years old which was apparently some sort of pre Hogwarts education which taught things like reading and counting. Lily and her brothers had all been asked by their parents if they wanted to go to one too, but they had all declined and their parents didn't push it, their mother hadn't been to one and their father had bad experiences there as he was bullied and had gotten in trouble a few times from underage magic before he knew what it was. Lily thought it sounded pretty cool to accidentally fly onto the roof but apparently the aftermath wasn't worth it. When Rose was very young she had a few minor slip ups saying words such as "muggle" and telling her class about her "famous Quidditch player aunt" but she soon learned what words were magical and what she could say in front of the teachers. The major slip up came when Hugo was in P2 and Uncle Ron was packing his lunch in a hurry and accidentally included a Nosebleed Nougat. Unfortunately the teacher contacted Hermione first and Ron swears that his ears were never the same after that Howler arrived at the shop. Her dad and uncle loved to tell the story as no harm was really done, the teacher had to be obliviated and Hugo was given the antidote and a blood replenishing potion but nno serious harm was done. Rose said that primary school was fascinating and that she learned a lot while Hugo thought it was boring.  
Lily’s childhood had been quite different, but she did see her cousins quite often. Lily, James and Albus were homeschooled until they went to Hogwarts, the basics of English and maths, but they were also taught some magic as it was necessary for them to know. They were only allowed to use magic in their lessons or in emergencies but their parents had agreed early on that they needed their children to know some spells and potions. They learned how to care for their parents who were still deeply haunted by flashbacks and memories, both their mum and dad had been used by Voldemort at a young age and that left lasting emotional and physical scars that never went away. They were taught how to brew healing potions for their parents, in case they were the only ones home when something happened, they knew Defense spells, as the children of Harry Potter they knew they were the most at risk if unknown Voldemort supporters could get them alone. Lily became the youngest person in history to produce a corporeal patronus at the age of six. Her brothers managed it at the age of twelve and thirteen respectively which was still almost unheard of. James and Lily both had the famous stag patronus of their father. Apart from Defense and Potions, they were no further ahead when they started school but they did have an unusual amount of control over their magic.  
The children grew up with few rules but the ones they did have were very different from the average family. Their house was very warm at all times, to the point where it felt sweaty and stuffy within seconds to anyone who wasn’t used to it. Her father could never be comfortable in the cold, it felt like dementors to him. When Lily and her brothers went back to Hogwarts after a holiday, the castle felt chilly for days, they huddled round the fire and were still cold. Leather covered books were strictly banned in the house, basically any book that looked old must be transfigured before being taken home. Nothing with a snake on it apart from the Hogwarts crest was allowed which had annoyed her Slytherin brother, thinking the rule was just to spite Slytherins until he realized who the Hogwarts founder’s last descendant was. The only time they had seen a snake was when their dad was testing them to find out if they were a parselmouth like him. He had apparently acquired that ability from Voldemort and detested the fact that he didn’t lose it when he got rid of Voldemort’s soul. That test was the only time Lily had seen him speak to a snake, he was shaking the whole time and threw up twice before he could sucessfully vanish the animal. He was incredibly relieved when he found out that none of his children had a clue what he was saying and they couldn’t communicate with the snake at all. Snake fangs were especially banned in the house. Jewelry wasn’t allowed, but somehow Kreacher’s locket was an exception that they had never quite understood, but accepted. Lily knew the jewelry rule had started after her parents had gotten engaged and their dad bought their mum an impressive engagement ring. Her mum noticed that her dad would often twitch or tense up every time his eye caught the ring so she questioned him and then tossed it straight into a nearby river. Her dad never did seem to understand that his wellbeing was more important than any possession any of them had. Lily herself was very perceptive and picked up on things that others may miss, like the reasons for their strange household rules. Sleepovers never happened, only at the Burrow and never at home, both Lily’s parents needed the freedom to be alone in their own home and didn’t want to be responsible for other children in case of an emergency. They were very scared in general of inviting people to the house because of the security concerns, it was difficult to hide from reporters and more importantly, be safe from people who wanted them dead. The Burrow was the place where the family could gather and their own home was a safe place to hide and be alone, even James, Albus and Lily were unsure exactly where in England they lived. Their father was incredibly protective, though it was understandable after all the near misses they had despite the security measures and her dad hated more than anyone that this was necessary. Lily didn’t mind too much because she’d never known any different, neither had her brothers, they were born years after the war had ended but it was impossible to get rid of the threat of dark wizards in the world entirely. The one annoying thing was that she knew she would always be watched whatever she did, her family name would mark her out as both a target and public figure. She would never tell her father that this bothered her, it would cause him a lot more distress than it would to her. She liked that her family was very close, she knew that most thirteen, fifteen and sixteen year olds didn’t enjoy hanging out with their parents, although they would be perfectly happy to hang out with HER parents, she thought. It used to really confuse her why everyone made such a fuss over her mum and dad, people on the street would stare, others would come up and ask for autographs or shake her dad’s hand or bow to him. Some glared and a couple had even tried to attack him but it was always pointless, both her parents were much too fast for the average person’s dueling abilities.  
Soon breakfast ended and James, Lily and Albus were awkwardly waiting for something to happen. They started to clean the dishes with their grandmother who was deliberately lengthening the process by doing it by hand.


End file.
